Chey Chang-won, right, vice chairman of SK Discovery, and Richard Hatchett, left, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), pose for a photo in Seoul, Oct. 25. Yonhap

Korean drugmaker SK Bioscience said Tuesday it has signed a deal to join hands with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to develop messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines.

Under the agreement, SK Bioscience will receive $140 million for the project from CEPI, an Oslo-based international public-private partnership, and develop mRNA vaccines for the Japanese encephalitis virus and the Lassa fever virus.

They also will cooperate in developing various vaccines based on mRNA platform technologies to help less-developed countries deal with possible virus infections in the future.

The project is part of CEPI's global program to advance the development of mRNA vaccines that provide broad protection against new viral threats in underdeveloped regions.

SK Bioscience said it will apply the new mRNA technologies into a pipeline of new vaccines for other therapeutic areas, including respiratory syncytial virus and cytomegalovirus.

"The world is aware that rapidly developing vaccines is the most important thing in saving humankind from a future pandemic," the company said. "We will strive to contribute to innovating the vaccine development and improving human health based on cooperation with global organizations like CEPI and companies."

Currently, SK Bioscience, the pharmaceutical affiliate under SK Group, produces British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine in Korea under a partnership deal.

It has also signed a deal with the U.S. vaccine producer Novavax for consignment production of the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine. (Yonhap)