Quratis, Development of Tuberculosis Vaccines for Adults
Submission for phase 2 clinical trial to MFDS..."If clinical success is achieved, the first adult TB vaccine is created"
Quratis (CEO Kwan-Gu Cho), a new drug development company, announced on the 30th that it plans to conduct clinical trials to localize vaccines against tuberculosis for adults.
Quratis is a company launched after a long joint study of tuberculosis by Yonsei Medical Center and IDRI(Infectious Disease Research Institute), a non-profit organization for developing new drugs for incurable diseases worldwide.
We plan to sign adomestic technology transfer contract with IDRI this year, followed by a secondphase of tuberculosis vaccine for adults, establish a GMP plant to manufacturetuberculosis vaccine in the future and lay the groundwork for establishing domesticvaccine sovereignty and advancing into the global market.
Currently, thedomestic vaccine market has BCG vaccines for all infants within four weeks ofbirth to prevent tuberculosis, but no vaccine against tuberculosis for adultsat a time when BCG's efficacy is allowed.
The company explainedthat "ID93+GLA-SE", a vaccine developed by IDRI and currentlyundergoing a global phase 2 clinical trial, was developed by fusing selectedprotein antigen through bioinformatics analysis of tuberculosis bacteria spreadaround the world. It is characterized by maintaining stability and purity,which are strengths of subunit vaccines, and enhancing efficacy.
Kwan-Gu Cho, CEO of Quratis, said that if this clinical trial is successful, it is meaningful in that it will become the first vaccine to prevent tuberculosis for adults in Korea.
The nation has 30,000 new TB patients every year and 2,200 die of tuberculosis, and ranks first among OECD member states in all rates of tuberculosis incidence, prevalence, mortality and multi drug resistant tuberculosis.
