CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and SK bioscience have announced an expanded partnership to develop a vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2, including variants of concern.

CEPI will provide up to $173.4 million in additional funding to SK bioscience to support its COVID-19 vaccine development programme. Of this funding, $41 million will be provided in the form of a forgivable loan that is repayable based on sales of the vaccine and will be used to secure raw materials needed for manufacturing. This brings CEPI’s total investment in SK bioscience to $210.1 million.

CEPI’s funding will support Phase 3 clinical trials of SK bioscience’s recombinant protein vaccine candidate (GBP510). The GBP510 candidate—which is currently undergoing Phase 1/2 testing in the Republic of Korea—is manufactured using a nanoparticle platform.

CEPI previously invested up to $10 million towards the cost of Phase 1/2 trials of in SK bioscience’s vaccine candidate in December 2020, followed by an additional $26.7 million to begin adaptation against variants and support scale-up of manufacturing in March 2021.

SK bioscience has advanced the development of their vaccine candidate using its established process platforms and corresponding commercial Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) capabilities. SK bioscience started Phase 1/2 studies of GBP510 early in 2021.