SKYCovione, a COVID-19 vaccine based on technology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, has been approved by the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for use in individuals 18 years of age and older.
It became the first clinical therapeutic drug approved for use in humans from UW Medicine’s computational protein design work.
Unlike previously approved COVID-19 vaccines that use mRNA, viral vectors or inactivated virus, SKYCovione is made of proteins that form into tiny particles that are covered with fragments of the pandemic coronavirus.
The nanoparticles were designed by scientists at UW Medicine and entered clinical trials by SK bioscience and GlaxoSmithKline with financial support from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. SKYCovione contains GlaxoSmithKline’s pandemic adjuvant AS03.
Researchers hope to create a second-generation COVID-19 vaccine that is safe, effective at low doses, simple to manufacture and stable without deep freezing. These attributes could enable vaccination on a global scale by reaching people in areas with limited access to medical care, transportation, and storage resources.
