Many in the medical community had predicted a paradigm shift in influenza vaccine production toward a cell-culture method, and now that prediction is becoming reality.
SK Chemicals (Man-hun Park, President) announced on the 7th of this month that SKYCellflu, the world`s first commercially-available cell-culture influenza vaccine for children/adolescents and Korea's first for adults, has surpassed one million doses in cumulative sales in just two weeks of its release.
Launched on the 19th of last month, the cumulative orders for SKYCellflu reached 1.21 million doses throughout over 7,000 hospitals within South Korea as of September 4th. More than 1.2 million doses have already been supplied in the domestic market.
The rate of sales for SKYCellflu is said to be about 30% faster compared with the flu vaccine sales trend from the same period of the previous year.
SK Chemicals` supply target for this year is well on its way of being reached earlier than originally expected thanks in part to the simultaneous launch of its marketing campaign highlighting the unique characteristics of SKYCellflu.
SKYCellflu`s remarkable market performance is attributed to the vaccine`s differentiated cell-culture production method that is completely different from conventional methods.
The cell-culture method utilizes a state-of-the-art sterile incubator to produce influenza vaccines, effectively breaking the mold of the previous production method using fertilized eggs.
By applying a cell-culture technique, SKYCellflu is able to avoid the use of fertilized eggs in its entire production process. This means that the vaccine is safe for people allergic to eggs or sensitive to antibiotics since the cultures are developed in aseptic conditions.
President Myeong-hui Lee of the Korean Physicians` Association stated, "Patients showed early interest as [SKYCellflu] is safe for those with egg allergies or antibiotic sensitivities, and they also responded favorably to the vaccine causing less pain during injection compared to conventional drugs."
Professor Wu-ju Kim of the Korea University Guro Hospital Department of Infectious Diseases said, "[SKYCellflu] has the distinct advantage of being the world`s first cell-culture influenza vaccine for all ages over 6 months." He added, "I expect a full market shift toward cell-culture flu vaccines."
"The results are a direct reflection of the product`s unique characteristics and safety," said Jae-ho Bae, the Head of Life Sciences Marketing Division at SK Chemicals. He continued, "I believe SKYCellflu will be able to take the lead in the influenza vaccine market based on a number of advantages."