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| A sign marks the headquarters of Moderna Therapeutics, which is developing a vaccine for COVID-19 in Massachusetts, May 18. Reuters-Yonhap |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Calls are growing for the government to step up its support for local pharmaceutical companies which are currently trying to develop COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, as global pharmaceutical powerhouses are making rapid progress thanks to support from administrations in the United States and Europe, industry analysts said Wednesday.
They said the government should provide more financial and other support for local companies, as developing vaccines and treatments for the rapidly spreading coronavirus is vital. They added benchmarking the U.S. government would be a good choice as it has invested more than $5 billion so far in around 30 research projects for the development of COVID-19 diagnostics, vaccines and treatments.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates sent a letter recently to President Moon Jae-in noting that he was impressed by Korea's coronavirus response including the country's quarantine measures and the private sector's vaccine development efforts.
But in reality, local pharmaceutical firms are lagging behind global powerhouses such as Pfizer and Moderna in the drug development race. Only one vaccine candidate is in the preclinical stage while another is in the first phase of a vaccine trial.
Chae Su-chan, a professor of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and director of the school's Center for Bio-Healthcare Innovation and Policy, said the government's full support for private firms was essential given drug makers have to spend an enormous amount of time and money to develop a new drugs or vaccines.
"Korea was highlighted for its agile response to COVID-19, developing test kits. But the country is lagging behind other countries in terms of the competiveness of its bio health industry. Especially in the new drug development sector, Korea is short of both talented researchers and funds. It takes about 13 years for them to develop a new drug on average with an investment amount of around 2 trillion won ($1.67 billion), which may make local firms hesitate to initiate new drug development," he said.
Moderna, a U.S.-based drug maker, recently launched phase three human trials of its vaccine for COVID-19. The company is developing the vaccine in conjunction with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and has received support funds amounting to nearly $1 billion.
Moderna said its human trials involve about 30,000 participants at 89 sites in the U.S. If the trial is successful, the company said it will be able to deliver about 500 million doses a year, and possibly up to 1 billion doses per year, starting next 2021.
Multinational pharmaceutical company Pfizer also launched Phase 3 trials of its vaccine. The trial includes up to 30,000 participants across 120 sites globally, including 39 U.S. states, Argentina, Brazil and Germany. In its press release, Pfizer said its preliminary results based on nearly 120 patients showed the vaccine was able to produce antibodies that could neutralize the virus in all of them.
Pfizer said that if the trial succeeds, it will seek regulatory approval as soon as October and supply vaccines for 50 million people, at two doses each, by the end of 2020. In addition, Oxford University is conducting Phase 3 trials in collaboration with biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. China-owned drug maker Shiopharm has also begun Phase 3 trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
While the U.S., the U.K. and China have begun Phase 3 trials of their COVID-19 vaccines, Korean drug manufacturers are still far behind. SK Bioscience is still in the animal testing stage for its coronavirus vaccine and another local company GeneOne Life Science plans to enter the human trial phase within this year.
