IVI and the Republic of Korea

 

IVI Member State

On 28 October 1996, The Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations signed the IVI Establishment Agreement.

On 17 December 1996, the government of Korea ratified the IVI Establishment Agreement.

The government of Korea is represented on the IVI Board of Trustees by two representatives, Mr. Wook-jin Chang, the Director General of the International Organizations Bureau in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Sung-Soon Kim, the Director General of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research at the National Institute of Health.

 

IVI State Funder

The Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic of Korea contributes 30% of IVI annual operating budget.

 

IVI Host Country

On 7 January 1999, the Government agreed to become the host country of IVI Headquarters.

Korean text of the IVI Headquarters Agreement

English text of the IVI Headquarters Agreement

 

Key Areas of Collaboration

Vaccine innovation, R&D

  • Introduced global public-private partnership paradigm for vaccine development in Korea

 

Korean industry partners:

SK Bioscience – tech transfer and support for typhoid conjugate vaccine (partners: Gates Foundation, US NIH)

EuBiologics – tech transfer and support for oral cholera vaccine (partners: Gates Foundation, GHIF)

GeneOne Life Science – clinical trial support for MERS vaccine (partner: Samsung)

Green Cross – support on Zika diagnostics

 

Products

  • Developed Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) with EuBiologics
    • Euvichol® WHO-prequalified in 2015 & Euvichol-Plus® WHO-prequalified in 2017: procured by WHO and UNICEF to control epidemic and endemic cholera

 

  • Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine: partnering with SK Bioscience to develop new typhoid vaccine
  • MERS DNA-based Vaccine: partnered with GeneOne to develop their MERS vaccine, first to test in humans

 

Capacity-building in Korea

  • IVI branch lab in Andong, Gyeongbuk Province
  • Post-doctoral training for Korean scientists & GHSA trainees
  • Masters in Vaccinology with Incheon National University

 

Global Health Collaboration

  • Increased capacity of DPRK’s Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) to conduct surveillance in diarrheal disease and acute encephalitis syndrome
  • In close collaboration with multiple partners and funders (KOICA, MOFA, KIA, LG), conducted a massive oral cholera vaccination programs in Ethiopia (2015), Malawi (2015), and Mozambique (2018)
  • Preventive cholera vaccination campaign in Nepal with support from Rotary Korea, Kim & Chang, Export-Import Bank of Korea and other Korean supporters in 2016 & 2017