SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korean drugmaker SK Bioscience Co. said Monday it has begun the phase three clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

GBP510, under development by SK Bioscience, a unit of the country's No. 2 family-controlled conglomerate SK Group, was administered to the first participant.

It comes nearly three weeks after the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved the trial, marking the country's first homegrown vaccine candidate to enter the last phase of clinical trial.

SK Bioscience aims to produce an interim result of its final stage of the clinical trial during the first quarter of next year before seeking final approval.

The clinical trial will compare GBP510 against the COVID-19 vaccine by AstraZeneca and Oxford University to view immunogenicity and safety, the ministry said.

The clinical trial will be simultaneously held in different countries by injecting some 3,000 participants with the vaccine candidate, while 990 others will get AstraZeneca doses.

Source: https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20210830007700320