SK bioscience announced that the company has won the award from the Minister of Food and Drug Safety(KMFDS) for its contributions to the domestic biopharmaceutical industry at the ´2018 Medical Korea Award´ ceremony held at the Grand Intercontinental Parnas Hotel, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

KMFDS held the 11th annual MEDICAL KOREA event this year to choose and award to top pharmaceutical, and medical device companies, hospitals, medical clinics, etc., which have led the advancement of the entire biopharmaceutical industry in Korea this year.

SK bioscience gained recognition for raising the level of R&D technology of the domestic vaccine industry by producing self-developed vaccines, including the world´s first tetravalent cell culture flu vaccine, ‘SKYCellflu® Quadrivalent´, ‘SKYZoster®´,’ a zoster vaccine which raised the domestic self-sufficiency to 50%, and the Korea’s second varicella vaccine ‘SKYVaricella®´.’

SK bioscience received the annual award for 4 years in a row ever since SKYCellflu was awarded the Grand Prize in the Medical Korea Awards vaccine category in 2015, before it was split off from parent company, SK chemicals.

SKYCellflu Quadrivalent is a cell culture-based influenza vaccine that can prevent four types of influenza viruses once administered. Cell culture-based production technology is fast and efficient in production by utilizing animal cells instead of a fertilized egg. In addition, since the production period is only one-half that of a fertilized egg and without using any antibiotics or preservatives in the manufacturing process, it can respond more quickly to emergency situations.

Based on these strengths, SK bioscience transferred its cell-cultivated production technology to global vaccine company last February.

Jaeyong Ahn, CEO of SK bioscience said, said, "The outstanding achievement we made in domestic and overseas markets have returned as meaningful awards. We will become a global innovator of vaccine industry and a leader in the global market beyond Korea through continuous R&D investment."