Global and Domestic Efforts in Pharmaceutical Development for COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has hardly become any better. Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has released that, as of March 5th, the confirmed number for domestic COVID-19 cases has reached a total of 5766. Although quick and efficient diagnosis could be carried out due to nationwide effort, people cannot help but become more anxious since no cure has been developed as a solution yet.

As a result, the domestic pharmaceutical industry has prioritized developing a cure for the COVID-19. However, it seems that it will take more time for the release of a new vaccine since in order to release it, the vaccine has to be approved after passing all clinical trials from phase 1 to phase 3.

■The conventional cure "Remdesivir" and the new vaccine candidate "mRNA-1273"

According to the Korean Research-based Pharma Industry Association, around 30 antiviral drugs for COVID-19 are being tested as treatments globally.

Up until now, there are no specific treatment options available for certain strains of COVID-19. As a result, pharmaceutical industry officials have been analyzing new treatments and other treatments with different uses to fight COVID-19 through the investigation of existing data at the ‘Asset Library.’

For instance, Gilead ‘Remdesivir,’ a vaccine candidate from the treatment of Ebola and SARS, has been confirmed to alleviate the symptoms of a COVID-19 patient in the United States. Thus, as of right now, Asian nations and other countries have applied for 2 of 3-phase clinical trials. South Korea also certainly plans to take part in these clinical trials.

Besides Remdesivir, global pharmaceutical companies have decided that ▲Lopinavir/Ritonavir combination (AbbVie), ▲Zanamivir (GSK), and▲Interferon (Roche, Merck, Bayer) could be related to COVID-19 and therefore, have been testing their indication.

If Remdesivir has been catching the spotlight as existing treatment, the U.S. Moderna’s ‘mRNA-1273’ has been catching the spotlight as a new vaccine in regards to the development of a preventive vaccine for COVID-19.

Moderna’s mRNA-1273 is a vaccine candidate developed together with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has been confirmed to have a mechanism to block COVID-19 from infecting the cells. Currently, the mRNA-1273 developed by Moderna is the first among the other vaccine candidates to advance into the clinical trial.

Besides this, the global effort of the pharmaceutical industry has been ongoing. Johnson & Johnson is planning to initiate vaccine development by utilizing the existing virus vaccine technology and Janssen is also actively participating in vaccine development through collaboration with America’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

Meanwhile, GSK has signed a collaboration agreement with China’s biotech company, Clover Biopharmaceuticals, and is initiating vaccine development for COVID-19. Furthermore, Sanofi Pasteur has also been collaborating with BARDA for the COVID-19 vaccine development.

■The domestic pharmaceutical bio-industry takes "full-scale stance" against COVID-19

The domestic pharmaceutical bio-industry has also decided to fully respond to COVID-19 and alleviate the national crises.

Currently, Celltrion has initiated vaccine development after receiving the first batch of the blood of a cured coronavirus patient from a medical institution. Furthermore, it has also supported the KCDC’s announcement of the "2019 Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibody Pre-clinical Vaccine Candidate Discovery for the Novel Coronavirus."

Komipharm, a veterinary vaccine development company, also stated on Feb. 26 that it has succeeded in developing ‘Panaphix’ as a clinical vaccine for viral infections to suppress "cytokine storms." Currently, Komipharm has requested the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for the approval of the plan for emergency clinical trials.

In addition, SK Bioscience and GC Green Cross have also requested for KCDC’s business project application and are currently in the process of developing a vaccine manufacturing technology platform.

An official from Korea’s Pharmaceutical Bio Association stated, "as much as the many pharmaceutical companies are working on discovering vaccines and vaccine candidates related to COVID-19, we will generously support the technology development and investment so that clinical trials and release of the vaccine can be carried out as quickly as possible."