Institut Pasteur Korea announced Monday that it had signed an agreement with Genexine to offer support for the latter’s global clinical studies of COVID-19 vaccine candidate GX-19N.

IPK said it would help Genexine conduct clinical studies of GX-19N and examine the efficacy of GX-19N against COVID-19 variants.

According to Genexine, the vaccine candidate, which contains an antigen targeting the coronavirus’ nucleocapsid protein, is potentially effective against COVID-19 variants.

Genexine finished phase 1 clinical study in South Korea in February and recently started conducting a phase 2 clinical study here. Last month, Genexine also submitted an investigational new drug application in Indonesia for a combined phase 2 and 3 clinical trial.

IPK and Genexine plan to submit additional applications in countries where COVID-19 variants have been found, with an aim of receiving approvals for a phase 2/3 clinical trial.

IPK said the institute would use its membership of global networks to facilitate Genexine’s clinical studies of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

IPK is part of Institut Pasteur International Network. The institute is also a member of the Global Virus Network, an international coalition of medical virologists established in 2011 in order to strengthen research and responses to current viral causes of human disease.

“It is important to quickly respond to the variants to achieve herd immunity on a global scale,” said Institut Pasteur Korea CEO Jee Young-mee. “(IPK) will work closely with Genexine to develop a new vaccine for COVID-19 and contribute to the fight against coronavirus.”

The latest agreement between Institut Pasteur Korea and Genexine is part of a research program supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

By Shim Woo-hyun (ws@heraldcorp.com)