South Korea’s Eubiologics Co. Ltd. said it gained the World Health Organization’s (WHO) prequalification designation on April 16 for its simplified oral cholera vaccine, approved as Euvichol-S.

SK Bioscience Co. Ltd. of Seongnam-si, South Korea, gained the World Health Organization’s (WHO) prequalification certification for typhoid conjugate vaccine, Skytyphoid (NBP-618), on Feb. 23. Skytyphoid conjugates a polysaccharide of typhoid bacteria, which serves as an antigen, to a diphtheria toxin protein called diphtheria toxoid that acts as a carrier.

SK Bioscience Co. Ltd. of Seongnam-si, South Korea, gained the World Health Organization’s (WHO) prequalification certification for typhoid conjugate vaccine, Skytyphoid (NBP-618), on Feb. 23. Skytyphoid conjugates a polysaccharide of typhoid bacteria, which serves as an antigen, to a diphtheria toxin protein called diphtheria toxoid that acts as a carrier.

It is not the first malaria vaccine, but R21, recommended for use by the World Health Organization in October, is the first that can be manufactured at modest cost and the sort of scale needed for widespread prevention of the killer disease in Africa.

The World Health Organization recently endorsed an economical malaria vaccine with a 75% effectiveness rate, which costs less than half of the initial vaccine (RTS,S/AS01) created two years ago. The new vaccine, R21/Matrix-M, developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India, marks a significant milestone after decades of scientific research.

The official end of the COVID-19 public health emergency in the U.S. in May did not mark the end of interest and investment in the area. In the shifting landscape, attention has pivoted to new markets, emerging strains, boosters, and the commercialization and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and therapies.

As country after country downshifts out of pandemic mode, the need for affordable COVID-19 therapies continues, especially in middle-income countries that are not included in current voluntary licensing arrangements. To meet that need, the WHO is calling on manufacturers of those drugs to extend the geographic scope of their licensing agreements to allow competition and price reductions. 

As country after country downshifts out of pandemic mode, the need for affordable COVID-19 therapies continues, especially in middle-income countries that are not included in current voluntary licensing arrangements. To meet that need, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on manufacturers of those drugs to extend the geographic scope of their licensing agreements to allow competition and price reductions so the treatments can be used where they’re needed most.