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| On 15th July, Cheonji Ilbo (Cheonji Daily) published an article in Korean entitled, “'Korea’s first vaccine to protect from the mutant variant': Shincheonji's blood donation is a 'hidden gem'”. This is a translation of that report. (Above) Researchers at SK Bioscience conduct vaccine research |
[Cheonji Ilbo = Reporter Bo-young Hong] “Based on clinical trials, this first domestic vaccine is expected to be effective against mutant variants, including Omicron and BA.5.”
Jae-yong Ahn, President of SK Bioscience, spoke these words to the Ministry of Health and Welfare of South Korea on the 13th when he visited the laboratory in Seongnam city, Gyeonggi province, the site of research and development into the first domestic novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) vaccine. Recently, as a result of a booster shot clinical trial in which the company additionally vaccinates 81 adults 7 months after the 2nd dose of 'Skycobi One', the domestic first vaccine against the Omicron variant is about 25 times greater than immediately after the 2nd dose.
As BA.5, which is called the fastest virus that has ravaged mankind, infects the world, COVID-19 has resurged like it did in the beginning, and attention has turned to whether the first domestic vaccine will be used not only in Korea but also around the world. In addition, as the national standard material made from plasma is expected to be used to develop an improved vaccine by SK Bioscience, the efforts by members of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, who donated their plasma, are expected to shine even more brightly.
As the Omicron BA.5 sub-variant grows in strength, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide is rapidly increasing again. According to 'Our World in Data', an international statistical site, the average number of new COVID-19 cases worldwide in the past week was 894,000 as of the 10th (US local time), compared to 484,000 on the 12th of last month four weeks ago, which is nearly double.
Currently, it is BA.5 that is driving the spread of COVID-19. BA.5 is the fifth confirmed mutation in the Omicron (BA) lineage, which is 35.1% more transmissible than the stealth Omicron (BA.2), which was previously prevalent, and 3 times the power to break down antibodies formed by vaccination.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KCDC) predicts that from the end of next month to September, there will be approximately 200,000 confirmed cases per day, and a maximum of 1,000 to 1450 critically ill patients and 90 to 140 deaths.
In this situation, the focus is on whether the first domestic vaccine will be used. President Ahn estimates that Skycobi One would also be effective against Omicron and its sub-mutations. However, as this vaccine was developed based on 'Wuhan Species', which spread in the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, additional research and verification is needed for the current Omicron and its sub-system (sub) displacement.
The effectiveness and safety of Skycobi One has been certified in Korea. As a result of comparing the previously approved AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as a control vaccine, the neutralizing antibody titer in effectiveness was 2.93 times that of the control vaccine. In terms of safety, the adverse reaction rate was similar to that of the control vaccine, and no particular safety problems were reported during the clinical trial period.
SK Bioscience plans to first complete the approval of the currently developed Skycobi One by the World Health Organization (WHO) and European health authorities, and develop an Omicron mutant vaccine as soon as possible based on this.
President Ahn said, “The vaccine can be converted and developed by changing it to Omicron and BA.5 from Wuhan Species, and clinical trials can be conducted by requesting the government authorities.”
In the future, the national standard material made from donated plasma will be used for clinical trials during the development of an improved vaccine. Vaccine national standard refers to the serum for which neutralizing antibodies for vaccine efficacy are measured. The goal is to evaluate the efficacy of clinical trials during the development stage of an improved vaccine with plasma containing antibodies from recovered patients.
Plasma extracted from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 has been used for the development of plasma treatments and research on mutant viruses, and has had a profound impact on the development of Skycobi One. Accordingly, the efforts of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, who were responsible for more than 90% of the plasma donated at that time, are expected to shine even more.
President Ahn aims to make Skycobi One a 'universal' vaccine that is effective against any mutation, and predicts that exports will begin in earnest from the first half of next year.
He said, “The vaccine industry is confused as COVID-19 mutations continue to emerge.”
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