· SK bioscience held the Global Forum to discuss about the Next Pandemic response strategy through global network

·  Heads of various institutions including Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CEPI, IVI attended

SK bioscience announced that the company held the ‘SK bioscience Global Forum’ at its headquarters located in Pangyo, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea on June 27th.

The forum titled as ‘Towards Global Partnerships: How to Prevent the Next Pandemic’ was organized for leaders of global institutions to discuss strategies in responding to the next pandemic through the global network.

Amid growing importance of preparing measures for new infectious diseases due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SK bioscience led the global movement as a global vaccine hub.

The distinguished VIPs and heads of global institutions, who are striving to protect public health, attended the forum. The attendees included: Andrew Chey, Executive Vice Chairman of SK Discovery, Jaeyong Ahn, CEO of SK Bioscience, Duck-soo Han, Prime Minister, Charles Ahn, representative of the ruling People Power Party, Trevor Mundel, President of Global Health Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and Jerome H. Kim, Director General of International Vaccine Institute (IVI).

Andrew Chey said, “The COVID-19 pandemic is a big historical event that tells humanity the importance of preemptive response to a new pandemic. I am sure this forum will be critical moment to discuss how to make safer future together.”

Duck-soo Han said in a congratulatory remark, “I would like to thank SK Bioscience for hosting such a meaningful moment for the safe future of humanity. We will continue to make efforts for the safe future of humanity."

The forum consisted of two sessions presenting the R&D technology and clinical trial results of ‘SKYCovione™’, SK bioscience´s a self-assembled nanoparticle vaccine based on close network with global institutions and companies, and sharing future strategies of global institutions to respond to the next pandemic.

SKYCovione™ has been jointly developed with the Institute for Protein Design (IPD) at the University of Washington School of Medicine with pandemic adjuvant AS03 of GSK. The development of SKYCovione™ has been supported by funding from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

In the second session, Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, CEPI, IVI, and SK bioscience introduced their strategies for the next pandemic.

Trevor Mundel, President of Global Health Division of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation said, “Preventing the next pandemic requires concerted action to ensure that we have the necessary tools to thwart novel threats. We also need to ensure that there is equitable access to these tools across the globe, so they can be delivered wherever they are needed, when they are needed.”

Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has inspired radical scientific innovations. As we look to the future, the global community must continue to work together to further reduce the time it takes to develop new and better countermeasures against emerging pandemic threats. To achieve that vision, global scientific, industrial, and political leaders?including those from The Republic of Korea and SK Bioscience?have joined CEPI in working to compress vaccine development down to just 100 days. This ambitious, but necessary, target will help speed-up the world’s response to deadly viruses like Sars-Cov-2 and set the world on a path towards a bright future, free from pandemics.”

Director General Jerome H. Kim of the IVI, said, “The global network is more important than anything else to solve the imbalance in vaccine distribution around the world,” adding, "We will come together in order to strive to develop vaccines and enhance global health."

Jaeyong Ahn, CEO of SK bioscience introduced the company’s response strategy to the next pandemic, saying, “In order to strengthen the partnership, which is the most effective and only way to prepare for the next pandemic, SK bioscience will do its best to as a member of  continuous pursue innovation. We will make efforts not only in the field of prevention but also in the field of treatment to promote human health by leaping to the world´s highest level in both manufacturing scale and quality through achieving more global certifications and development of innovative technologies.”