Korea National Institute of Health (KNIH) has successfully developed a vaccine candidate against COVID-19 based on a virus like particle (VLP) platform technology, an important step to realize a commercially available vaccine, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) announced on Tuesday.

A VLP is a molecule with a virus structure, but it is non-infectious because it contains no genetic material.

The vaccine candidate developed as part of the institute’s internal research project has a structure with the “spike” antigen of COVID-19 virus, which is mounted on the structural protein of influenza virus.

A VLP-based vaccine is known to be safe because no virus replication occurs, and a key commercially available vaccine developed with this technology is a human papillomavirus vaccine.

KNIH already received approval for its vaccine for high pathogenic avian influenza, and it has long invested in developing various vaccine platforms to develop a universal flu vaccine and to respond to novel and mutated viruses.

The state-invested institute said vaccine development takes a long time from basic development to clinical trials, but it will accelerate self-sufficiency of a COVID-19 vaccine through close cooperation with domestic labs and private companies during non-clinical and clinical trials.

By Chung Seul-gi and Minu Kim

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