Self-sufficiency of Essential Preventative Vaccines
Hepatitis A vaccine (GMAI-02)
The hepatitis A virus is characterized by a large difference in symptom expression depending on the age of infection. In most cases of infection in children, antibodies are formed without any symptoms and the child acquires natural immunity. In the case of infection in adulthood, however, symptoms of acute hepatitis occur. In the 1960s and 1970s, when the environment in Korea was unhygienic, most people acquired natural immunity against hepatitis A virus in childhood; however, as the level of environmental hygiene has rapidly improved and the rate of antibody retention in adults has decreased sharply, the incidence of hepatitis A in adults in their 20s and 40s has increased rapidly over the past 20 years. Accordingly, hepatitis A vaccine has been included in the National Immunization Program (NIP) since 2015, but there is no domestically developed product thus far, so the nation is totally dependent on imports.
We started to develop a hepatitis A vaccine using the vaccine development platform we have been building for the localization of hepatitis A vaccine. In recognition of the efficacy of vaccine candidates using our self-developed hepatitis A strains, we won the order for the Vaccine Commercialization Technology Development Project from the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2020, and are conducting joint development of domestic high-efficacy vaccines in collaboration with Kyunghee University.
Vaccine candidate development
Production process development
Animal model effectiveness evaluation
Process Optimization
Proceeding
Non-Clinical trials
Clinical trials
Japanese encephalitis inactivated vaccine (GMJI-01)
Acute encephalitis transmitted by the mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis virus has a mortality rate of 25%. Even if the patient recovers, the virus is so devastating that 25% of patients acquire a disability. Also, the younger the person is, the worse the prognosis is. Therefore, the Japanese encephalitis vaccine has been included in the National Immunization Program (NIP), which has led to cases of Japanese encephalitis in Korea declining sharply since the turn of the century. Currently, inactivated vaccines and live attenuated vaccines are commercially available in Korea, but Japanese encephalitis vaccines are entirely imported as there are none that are domestically developed.
Our research team is currently developing a cell-cultured vaccine with excellent safety and efficacy for rapid localization of the Japanese encephalitis vaccine by utilizing our experience in the development of Japanese encephalitis vaccine candidates and licensing-out to a global pharmaceutical company.
Vaccine candidate development
Production process development
Proceeding
Animal model effectiveness evaluation
Process Optimization
Non-Clinical trials
Clinical trials
Vaccine Development in Preparation for the Future
HPV therapeutic vaccine (GMPV-12)
Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women. The number of patients diagnosed with cervical cancer each year around the world is around 570,000, with an average of 853 deaths per day. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the main cause of cervical cancer, and in particular, high-risk HPV types 16 and 18 cause more than 70% of cervical cancers. These types are also known to cause penile, vulvar and anal carcinomas and oropharyngeal cancer. However, since there are currently no commercially available HPV therapeutic vaccines, extensive research and clinical trials on various types of vaccine candidates are underway.
We are developing effective therapeutic and preventative vaccines against HPV using AI-based proprietary antigen remodeling technology and T-cell immunity promoting protein fusion technology. ‘GMPV-12’ has a carcinotherapeutic mechanism by activating T immune cells, and its effectiveness has been confirmed using animal cervical cancer models.
Vaccine candidate development
Production process development
Animal model effectiveness evaluation
Process Optimization
Proceeding
Non-Clinical trials
Clinical trials
Unsolved vaccine development
Zika virus vaccine
Zika virus infection is a mosquito-borne infection. Since the large-scale outbreak in Central and South America, including Brazil in 2015, the virus has been known to cause serious malformations in the fetus when infecting a pregnant woman, and global health-related organizations such as WHO and CDC have invested large-scale budgets to control, treat and prevent infection. However, in the same family of viruses, new properties are being continually revealed, such as previously unknown sex-mediated transmission potential and neural cell affinity, and there is no definite cure as of yet, so rapid vaccine development for infection prevention is the only alternative and is growing in importance.
We have developed and have a patent pending for a mutant strain of the zika virus that has improved productivity. We have also completed the development of the production process for an inactivated vaccine (GMZ-002) using this mutant strain, and have proved the vaccine candidate material's excellent protective efficacy against zika virus infection in animal models.
In addition, we have developed a zika virus recombinant protein vaccine candidate (GMZV-01) together with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and have established a vaccine purification and efficacy evaluation system. In addition to the zika vaccine, the system we have built is being used to develop vaccines against various infectious diseases.
Vaccine candidate development
Production process development
Animal model effectiveness evaluation
Process Optimization
complete
Non-Clinical trials
Clinical trials
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