Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Microsoft (MS), will visit Korea on the 21st. This is his first visit since 2022.
According to industry sources on the 19th, Trevor Mundel, president of the Global Health institutional sector at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will also visit Korea to meet with executives of domestic major vaccine and diagnostic corporations.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, established in 2000, is the world's largest private charity dedicated to poverty alleviation and disease prevention. The purpose of this visit is to discuss ways to strengthen support for vaccines in developing countries with domestic corporations.
Mundel is expected to meet with executives of key vaccine and diagnostic corporations in Korea, including SK bioscience, LG CHEM, EuBiologics, SD BIOSENSOR, and Bioneer, supported through the RIGHT Foundation.
The RIGHT Foundation is an international health technology research fund jointly established in 2018 by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Gates Foundation, and domestic bio corporations. It supports the development of technologies such as vaccines, treatments, and medical devices to treat and diagnose infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries. Since 2021, the fund's scale has been doubled.
An industry source noted, "President Trevor Mundel and executives from corporations affiliated with the RIGHT Foundation are scheduled to meet," adding that it aims to strengthen various cooperative relationships regarding vaccines for support to developing countries. It is known that Bill Gates is scheduled to meet with key figures, including President Lee Jae-myung.
At LG CHEM, Kim Seong-ho, senior vice president of the vaccine institutional sector, will attend. SK bioscience is expected to be represented by CEO Ahn Jae-young or CTO Kim Hoon, while Bioneer is expected to have CEO Baek Young-ok in attendance.
LG CHEM supplies its self-developed polio vaccine "Eupolio" to over 70 countries worldwide through UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund). Previously, Bill Gates sent a letter to Shin Hak-cheol, vice chairman of LG CHEM, in 2021, expressing gratitude for being able to protect the health of children worldwide through Eupolio.
The Gates Foundation has highly evaluated LG CHEM's vaccine development capabilities, supporting $57.6 million (about 80 billion won) since 2017 for the Eupolio and Eupolio-based hexavalent mixed vaccine project. LG CHEM stated, "We provided various forms of cooperation beyond simple financial support, such as connecting global expert networks." LG CHEM is currently conducting Phase 2 clinical trials for its infant hexavalent mixed vaccine "LR19114."
EuBiologics has developed a meningococcal pentavalent vaccine with the support of the RIGHT Foundation, transferring technology to the South African biopharmaceutical company Biovac in 2024. Meningococcal disease occurs annually in the 'meningitis belt' south of the Sahara in Africa.
SK bioscience successfully commercialized the varicella vaccine SKYVaricella in 2018. In 2022, it succeeded in its first bid for the varicella vaccine under the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) of the World Health Organization (WHO), supplying vaccines to the Latin American market. Its self-developed influenza vaccines, "SkyCellflu" and "SkyCellflu quadrivalent," are being supplied to Southeast Asia and Latin America.
SK bioscience's 21-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (GBP410), jointly developed with the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, has entered global Phase 3 clinical trials, making it the first vaccine to exceed 20 serotypes targeting infants.
SD BIOSENSOR and Bioneer are developing infectious disease diagnostic devices and kits with support from the RIGHT Foundation.