Shares of SK Chemicals declined to negative territory Wednesday as investors took profit from strong gains this month on expectations about business growth in connection with its unlisted vaccine subsidiary SK Bioscience consigned to produce Covid-19 shots for AstraZeneca in what could be the first vaccine available in Korea as early as next spring.

On Monday AstraZeneca said its vaccine, developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford, showed an average 70 percent effectiveness in preventing the virus in an interim analysis of clinical trials. The news follows a string of encouraging vaccine results of late-stage trial readouts from Pfizer and Moderna that pushed the stocks of major vaccine manufacturers and related firms to new all-time highs.

SK Chemicals shares closed 2.8 percent lower at 416,000 won ($372.66) on Wednesday.

Since its CMO contract with AstraZeneca in July, SK Bioscience has supplied vaccines to the U.K. company for clinical research and is preparing for commercial supply.

AstraZeneca said its vaccine can be stored and transported at normal refrigerated conditions (2-8 degrees Celsius) for six months and administered within existing healthcare settings unlike Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that require special storage equipment and transportation. This simple supply chain in addition to AstraZeneca’s no-profit commitment to broad and equitable access means it will be affordable at $3-4, much cheaper than Pfizer’s $19.5 vaccine.

AstraZeneca said it will prepare the regulatory submission of the latest data to health authorities around the world for conditional or early approval.

Korean health authorities said the regulatory review of the vaccine can be conducted based on safety and efficacy data from overseas trials, adding the review process for AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine can be completed within one or two months after submission under the GO fast-track review program.

Market watchers said AstraZeneca’s vaccine may be rolled out around Christmas overseas and it will take a formal step for regulatory process early next year in Korea, which means it will become the first Covid-19 vaccine available in Korea sometime in March.

By Kim Byung-ho, Park Yoon-gyun and Minu Kim

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]