Sumagen's Covid-19 vaccine proven effective in animal trials

Sumagen, a life science subsidiary of Kosdaq-listed Curocom, Tuesday said that its investigational Covid-19 vaccine has been proven effective against the delta variant in animal trials conducted at the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) headquartered in Seoul.

In the study, human transgenic mice were given two doses of SCOV-14 vaccine (Wuhan virus antigen) or combined vaccine of SCOV-02 (delta variant antigen) and SCOV-14 three weeks apart and then were infected with beta and delta variants.

The results showed that all in the vaccinated group survived and none in the comparator group. The surviving mice did not lose any significant weight throughout the experiment. Lung tissue examination at day 4 and 7 after infection, beta and delta variants were not detected in the vaccinated group, and inflammation and edema in their lung tissue were significantly lower than the unvaccinated group.

These results confirm the potential of the company¡¯s vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)‐vectored vaccine system against delta and other variants that may emerge in the future, Sumagen said.

Sumagen is currently developing a vaccine candidate that uses a delta variant antigen.

Sumagen said it plans to file an IND application with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (KFDA) as soon as its vaccine candidate for clinical trials is produced.

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