Recently, as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads again in China and Southeast Asia, the government and corporations are accelerating the development of a universal vaccine and treatment that can respond to all variants.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on the 26th, the number of COVID-19 patients has surged recently in countries like Taiwan and Hong Kong. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that an average of 350 deaths occurred each week due to COVID-19 last month. There are concerns that Korea may experience a resurgence of COVID-19 similar to last summer, and preparations for medical response systems are needed.
The reason COVID-19 is spreading again is that the virus variants continue to change. Even if a vaccine tailored to a specific variant is administered, its effectiveness diminishes over time. The scientific community has raised the necessity of developing a universal vaccine effective against all variant viruses as a fundamental solution to this issue.
David Baker, a professor at the University of Washington and winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry last year, has begun the development of a universal vaccine that can respond to all variants. The plan is to develop a vaccine that blocks the sarbecovirus group, which causes pandemics of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
Professor Baker previously utilized an artificial intelligence (AI) called 'Rosé' that quickly predicts, analyzes, and designs protein structures to develop the COVID-19 vaccine 'SkyCovione' in collaboration with SK bioscience.
A domestic corporation has already entered clinical trials for universal vaccine development. DXVX has introduced universal COVID-19 vaccine technology from Stanford University in the U.S. According to the company, the vaccine currently under development uses a virus-like particle (VLP) method. It uses micro-particles that look like the actual virus but are non-infectious.
Existing mRNA vaccines induce immune responses by creating viral spikes in the human body. When variant viruses with changed spike shapes appear, the vaccines are less effective. There was also the inconvenience of needing to be stored frozen, as they are made from heat-sensitive genetic material.
In contrast, VLP can provoke more diverse immune responses because it contains multiple parts of the virus as well as spikes. As a result, the effects last longer. While the immunity effect of existing mRNA vaccines diminishes after around six months, this vaccine has shown to maintain strong immunity with just an annual dose. Since it does not contain mRNA, it does not need to be stored frozen. Currently, it has completed phase 1 clinical trials in the U.S. and South Africa, and it is ahead of entering phase 2 global clinical trials in the U.S. and Southeast Asia.
The company has also secured the universal COVID-19 treatment technology from the domestic bio corporation Luca AI Cell. This technology detects the curved shapes on the surface instead of viral spikes using peptides, a constituent protein, and adheres to destroy them.
According to the company, peptides selectively attack only small viruses under 200 nanometers (nm, 1 nm is one billionth of a meter) without touching normal cells, resulting in minimal side effects or toxicity. A company official said, "Even if variants arise, the effectiveness is maintained, and it is expected to be applicable not only to COVID-19 but also to deadly viruses such as Zika, Ebola, dengue, and Marburg viruses."
The government has also rolled up its sleeves. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency aims to obtain approval for domestically produced mRNA COVID-19 vaccines by 2028, selecting four corporations, including GC Biopharma, Lemonex, EuBiologics, and Korea Bioeming, along with research institutions, to commence preclinical trials since last month. The agency plans to invest a total project cost of 505.2 billion won to support subsequent phase 1, 2, and 3 clinical trials.
The strategy of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency is to enhance the development speed of vaccines tailored to variants instead of universal vaccine development. The goal is to secure a platform for rapidly developing mRNA vaccines within 100 to 200 days of the outbreak's onset. This way, only the mRNA of the variant virus that serves as an antigen can be replaced to develop a new vaccine. They have stated that they will also develop vaccines for cancer treatment and therapies for rare diseases using the vaccine development platform.
Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Director Jeong Eun-kyeong said, "We will strengthen vaccine sovereignty and become a leading country in global health security," adding, "In the event of future pandemics, we will develop vaccines at ultra-rapid speeds using domestic technology and expertise to protect lives and minimize social and economic losses."