SK Bioscience's COVID-19 vaccine candidate to enter phase 3 clinical trial

Minister of Food and Drug Safety Kim Gang-lip announces at the media briefing that the government has approved SK Bioscience to conduct the phase three clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Aug. 10. Yonhap

South Korean drugmaker SK Bioscience has won an approval to conduct the phase three clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, drug authorities said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said GBP510, under development by SK Bioscience, a unit of the country's No. 2 family-controlled conglomerate SK Group, is the country's first indigenous vaccine candidate to enter the last phase of clinical trial.

The clinical trial will compare GBP510 against the COVID-19 vaccine by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, the ministry said. It marks the second time in the world for such a comparison trial to be conducted.

The clinical trial will be simultaneously held in different countries by injecting the vaccine candidate in some 3,000 participants.

SK Bioscience aims to produce an interim result of its clinical trial during the first quarter of next year before seeking final approval.

Earlier, the government said it will strengthen support for homegrown COVID-19 vaccine development so that candidates can enter late-stage phase three clinical trials by the end of the year.

The government said it is also considering purchasing homegrown COVID-19 vaccines upon the interim findings of second phase clinical trials or approval of phase three clinical trials. (Yonhap)