- For its contribution to globalization of domestic vaccines such as flu, herpes zoster, and chickenpox

- Awarded four consecutive years since the launch of SKYCellflu® in 2015

Photo Description: Taejoon Cho, Head of of SK bioscience’s Strategy Planning Division is receiving the award for vaccine category at the ‘2019 Medical Korea Grand Prize’ sponsored by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

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SK bioscience announced on the 21st that the company has received the vaccine award for its contribution to the domestic vaccine industry at the ‘2019 Medical Korea Grand Prize’ award ceremony held at the Grand Intercontinental Parnas Hotel Seoul.

The Medical Korea Awards is an event to recognize pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, and hospitals who led the development of the biopharmaceutical industries in Korea that year under the auspices of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety(KMFDS). This year’s event marked its 12th anniversary.

SK bioscience was praised for having improved R&D technology of the domestic vaccine industry by introducing a series of self-developed vaccines such as ‘SKYCellflu Quadrivalent´, the world’s first cell culture-based quadrivalent influenza vaccine, ‘SKYZoster®´, the world’s second herpes zoster vaccine, and ‘SKYVaricella®´, the second varicella vaccine developed in Korea.

In particular, the company has raised expectations for the globalization of Korean vaccines as it has made inroads into the global market this year.

In April this year, the influenza vaccine, SKYCellflu received the World Health Organization’s first Pre-qualification (WHO PQ) certification as a cell culture-based influenza vaccine. Only companies that have obtained the PQ certification are eligible to participate in international bids organized by U.N. agencies such as UNICEF and PAHO (Pan American Health Organization) and are recognized as important approved references in many developing countries.

SKYCellflu also started to be exported last September after gaining market approval from regulatory agencies in Asian countries.

In addition, SKYZoster is securing nearly 50 percent of the market share in terms of domestic sales this year. SK bioscience has plans for SKYZoster, which has quickly settled in the market, to continue expansion of its market share and prepare for emerging overseas markets in Southeast Asia, which are in need of the herpes zoster vaccine.

The company has won the award for 5 consecutive years since SKYCellflu won the Grand Prize in the Medical Korea Vaccine category in 2015, which was before being spun off from SK chemicals.

Taejoon Cho, Head of SK bioscience’s Strategy Planning Division said, “We are committed to improving R&D with the goal of developing vaccines that can contribute to promoting human health. We aspire to drive global market advancement based on innovative technology.”