SK bioscience announced on the 31st that the company’s cell culture-based influenza vaccine ´SKYCellflu®´ has been acknowledged as the first place in the vaccine category of ´2018 Korea Highest Brand.´

The Korea Highest Brand is an annual event recognizing and awarding major domestic brands that created the excellent value for a year in different categories. The Brand value is measured through KBHI, an evaluation model co-developed by Brandstock Inc., a brand value evaluation company, and Yonsei Business Research Institute to awards.

This year marks the 13th annual ceremony for Korea Highest Brand, that approximately 30,000 consumers and professional panelists evaluated innovations, differentiation, trend leading power, and product reliability categories.

SK bioscience´s SKYCellflu was recognized for the fourth consecutive year by receiving a high score in innovation and reliability categories.

SK bioscience launched the world´s first quadrivalent cell culture-based influenza vaccine in 2016, following Korea’s first trivalent cell culture-based influenza vaccine in 2015 under the SKYCellflu brand. SKYCellflu has exceeded the domestic cumulative sales volume of 14 million doses for the past three years and about 5 million doses were supplied to the domestic market this year.

The cell culture technology is fast and efficient by utilizing animal cells fertilized-egg cells. In addition, the production period is short without using antibiotics or preservatives in the manufacturing process, so it can respond faster to urgent situations caused by atypical influenza virus strains.

Recently, CDC, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced that a cell culture influenza vaccine could provide a better protection because it can avoid the micro mutations of the type A H3N2 virus that often occurs during the culturing period of fertilized cells.

Based on these advantages, SK bioscience has exported its vaccine production technology to a global vaccine company last February.

Jaeyong Ahn, CEO of SK bioscience said, "We will take the lead in promoting the human health as a global innovative partner of vaccine industry and advance toward the global market beyond the domestic market."