"Government Invests 300 Billion Won in Vaccines"... Rising Expectations for 21-Valent Pneumococcal Vaccine

SK Bioscience Selected for the National Growth Fund

With SK Bioscience being selected as a recipient of the National Growth Fund, industry experts say that Korea’s bio industry development strategy has reached a new turning point. This case is particularly noteworthy not only because it supports a single company, but also because the government has begun to make substantial, long-term capital investments in vaccine projects with high global commercialization potential.

According to the industry on June 4, the National Growth Fund is a public-private joint policy finance program established by the government to foster advanced strategic industries such as AI, semiconductors, bio, and secondary batteries. Its core objective is to combine public funds and policy resources to supply long-term capital to future growth industries.

SK Bioscience headquarters in Songdo, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. SK Bioscience

The market highlights that the National Growth Fund is fundamentally different from traditional policy finance. To encourage broader public participation, the government offers tax incentives and, in some sectors, has structured the fund so that it shoulders part of the losses first. Since long-term public investment is involved, the selection process for recipients is comprehensive, taking into account technological capabilities, global growth potential, and industrial impact.

Notably, the government recently identified global Phase 3 clinical-stage bio and vaccine projects as one of the fund's key investment areas. Global Phase 3 clinical trials require funding on the scale of hundreds of billions of won, and this stage is widely considered the most financially demanding, even after securing the necessary technology.

Until now, Korean bio companies have often chosen to license out their technologies to global pharmaceutical firms around the Phase 2 clinical stage, mainly due to difficulties in securing large-scale clinical funding despite their strong technological capabilities. There have been numerous cases where the candidate substances subsequently succeeded in global Phase 3 trials and commercialization, creating market value worth several trillion won.

Industry insiders view this round of support from the National Growth Fund as highly significant, as it marks the first attempt to provide long-term capital that enables domestic companies to directly carry their core pipelines through global clinical trials and into commercialization. It is seen as a potential solution to a structural limitation of the Korean bio industry, which often struggles to reach commercialization due to capital shortages despite securing the technology.

Within this context, analysts point out that SK Bioscience was chosen largely because of its ongoing global Phase 3 clinical trial for ‘GBP410,’ a 21-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine candidate.

GBP410 is a next-generation pneumococcal vaccine being co-developed with global vaccine company Sanofi. Compared to existing commercial vaccines, it offers broader protection as a 21-valent product. It is currently undergoing global Phase 3 clinical trials, with top-line results expected to be announced next year.

Excluding COVID-19 vaccines, pneumococcal vaccines represent one of the largest segments in the global vaccine market. Market research agencies forecast that the global pneumococcal vaccine market will grow from approximately 12 trillion won in 2025 to over 17 trillion won by 2030. In particular, there is now fierce competition to develop higher-valency products, increasing the likelihood of a market shift toward next-generation vaccines.

Industry observers emphasize that GBP410 is not just a research-stage candidate but an asset that has advanced into global Phase 3 clinical trials with the goal of commercialization. The fact that Sanofi, with its experience in global commercialization and established supply chain, is a co-development partner also increases the likelihood of successful commercialization.

The total amount of this round of support is 300 billion won. The funds will be used for GBP410’s global clinical operations, commercialization preparation, and enhancement of production capacity. Unlike ordinary financial sector funding, this is a long-term investment, which makes it particularly well-suited for the bio industry, where multi-year clinical, regulatory, and commercialization processes are the norm.

Market participants also view this selection as a symbolic case that points to the direction of Korea’s bio industry development strategy. This marks a shift from focusing support on production facilities or CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organization) to nurturing companies with proprietary pipelines and clinical capabilities that can compete in the global market.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, major countries began to recognize vaccines and essential medicines as national security assets. Accordingly, industry experts interpret this support as a strategic investment aimed not just at corporate assistance, but also at securing national vaccine sovereignty and strengthening infectious disease response capabilities.

SK Bioscience demonstrated Korea’s vaccine sovereignty by developing the nation’s own COVID-19 vaccine, SKYCovione, during the pandemic. The company is currently developing a range of products centered on pneumococcal vaccines, including influenza vaccines, RSV preventive antibodies, and Ebola vaccines. It is also pursuing government-backed projects such as cell culture-based avian influenza (H5N1) vaccines and the international joint research project HaDEA for patch-type influenza vaccines. In addition, the company is advancing the development of next-generation pneumococcal vaccines as part of its efforts to secure long-term growth drivers.

Earlier this year, SK Bioscience relocated its headquarters and research center to the Songdo Global R&PD Center, establishing an integrated global vaccine R&D system that brings together research and development (R&D), process development (PD), business development (BD), and marketing functions. Industry observers believe that this robust R&D capability and global commercialization foundation also contributed to SK Bioscience’s selection for the National Growth Fund.

Industry experts stress that this support via the National Growth Fund is meaningful not only as financial support for a single company, but also as an investment in the potential for Korea’s bio industry to move beyond a technology transfer-focused structure and directly pursue global commercialization. Ultimately, it is seen as the government’s endorsement not only of SK Bioscience as a company, but also of the possibility that domestic firms can achieve direct success stories in the global vaccine market.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.