Since the first confirmation of the COVID-19 in 2019, countries around the world have been suffering from the virus. The pandemic, which seemed to end with the development of vaccines, is becoming unknowingly long as it continues to mutate into Delta and Omicron. Although the virus seems to be ahead of the pace of human innovation, scientific technology will find a solution, and many researchers are continuing their efforts to do so.
Although the COVID-19 virus has made the global population keep on their toes, some countries have been considered exemplary countries for their rapid response: Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Republic of Korea. In particular, South Korean infectious disease prevention and control (coined as ‘K-quarantine’) is evaluated as a successful case of initial response, including the government’s transparent information disclosure policy and preventive compliances such as wearing masks. In addition, research and development (R&D) responding to viruses is actively underway, and a remarkable research result among them will be given below.
The Convergence Research Center for CEVI of the National Institute of Science and Technology (NST) began research in developing COVID-19 vaccines and treatments in 2016. After suffering from several pandemics of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, H1N1 virus (also known as swine flu) in 2009, and MERS-CoV (MidEastern Respiratory Syndrome) in 2015, NST became aware of the seriousness of viral infectious diseases and a research team was launched to respond quickly to possible infectious diseases. One of the characteristics of the research group is not a single research institute, but eight national research institutes (Korea Institute of Chemical Technology, Korea Basic Science of Institute, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, Korea Food Research Institute, Korea Institute of Toxicology), four universities (Korea University, Yonsei University, Jeonbuk National University, Chungnam National University). Researchers from various fields gather at the Korea Research Institute for Chemical Technology to conduct cooperative research, as it was not launched to develop vaccines or treatments, but to develop solutions that can respond to new viruses – from diagnosis, prevention, to treatment.
Studies that have been thoroughly prepared since 2016, before the COVID-19 pandemic, have achieved many results from 2020 to the present when the new virus actually occurred. First, the candidate substance for the “SARS-COV-2” vaccine developed by the research team is a synthetic antigen vaccine, which has a production capacity five times higher than that of neutralizing antibodies by the existing COVID-19 spike protein, which was previously developed as a vaccine antigen. The high ability to produce neutralizing antibodies that counteract the activity of antigens in the human body means that it can prevent the exacerbation of disease from mild to severe patients. Kim Bum-tae, head of the research team, explained, “We have been steadily researching the ‘vaccine development platform’ technology to prepare for infectious diseases that may be prevalent again in Korea since MERS, and as a result, we were able to quickly develop vaccine candidates in this COVID-19 situation.”
Second, the research team developed candidate substances for treatment following vaccine candidate substances, which were confirmed to have excellent drug effects not only on COVID-19, but also on MERS and SARS viruses. As a result of injection to monkey kidney cells, it was found that the ability to kill 50% of the virus at a specific concentration was 50 times higher than that of Remdesivir (COVID-19 treatment approved in the United States). Proven its excellent drug quality and low toxicity, it is highly likely to be developed as a new drug, and expected to be used to develop general-purpose COVID-19 virus treatments. Third, it also completed developing the nanostructure-based high-sensitivity immunodiagnosis technology that can diagnose virus infection and neutralizing antibodies even after vaccination, and a diagnostic tool that can check for virus infection within 15 minutes.
These achievements are worth 29 million dollars and technology has been transferred to private bio companies, leading to clinical trials and commercialization research. This can be said to be the result of efforts made by the research group, research support organization (NST), and government (Ministry of Science and ICT) over the past five years. The research team is set to end in July 2022, but still planning to continue cooperative research on responding to new strains of virus infections.
Kim Bok-chul, chairman of NST, emphasizes that “It is a must-do research for securing public safety although it takes a long time and risks are high.” The CEVI research is expected to be continued, according to Mr. Kim. As he said that “To cover more areas, for example, to cope with climate change beyond disease control and treatment, it requires a more cooperative research process in collaboration with companies, universities, in order to maximize the speed and efficiency of the research.” In addition, Yong Hong-taek, the first vice minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, encouraged the team, saying that “CEVI research team is a great help in Korea’s rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” He closed his word promising more support for the research team.
