Japan based Shionogi & Co., Ltd. has announced that Shionogi has officially made the decision to develop a prophylactic vaccine for COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection.

Regarding commitment to vaccine development, UMN Pharma Inc., a subsidiary of Shionogi, is pursuing the discovery and development of a recombinant protein vaccine for COVID-19, using their unique technology, “BEVS”, in a project supported by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED), which began in March, 2020.

The company has decided to position the development of this vaccine as one of its top-priority projects, alongside the discovery of COVID-19 therapeutic drugs, and to accelerate efforts to rapidly progress into nonclinical and clinical trials and scale-up studies to enable it to offer this vaccine to 10 million people.

At the present time, the company is coordinating its plans with relevant parties, such as the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), in order to start clinical trials within the year.