ⓒYONHAP News

Local company SK Bioscience has received government approval to conduct a phase three clinical trial for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said on Tuesday that GBP510 is the country's first locally developed vaccine candidate to enter the final phase of clinical trials.

The trial will compare GBP510 to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the second such comparison trial after the French company Valneva.

Three-thousand-990 people aged 18 or older will participate in these trials, in which three-thousand subjects will receive the vaccine candidate and the remaining 990 to take the AstraZeneca vaccine, in two doses with a four-week interval.

SK Bioscience aims to mass produce the vaccines in the first half of 2022, by generating an interim result of its clinical trial and applying for a final approval during the first quarter of next year.