Immunobiome Expands Headquarters to POSTECH BOIC... "Accelerating Clinical Preparation"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Immunobiome, a microbiome therapeutic research and development company, announced on the 27th that it has expanded and relocated its headquarters to the ‘Bio Open Innovation Center (BOIC),’ an industry-academia-research new drug development innovation research platform within POSTECH.

BOIC is an open industry-academia-research research center jointly established with an investment of 25.2 billion KRW by Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, Pohang City, POSTECH, Genexine, and POSCO to attract new drug development research institutions and venture companies and to create a new drug industry ecosystem through industry-academia-research collaboration.

It was built on a site next to the POSTECH Biotechnology Research Center, with a total floor area of 10,179㎡, consisting of one basement floor and four above-ground floors. Ten bio companies have moved in, and it is equipped with shared laboratories, joint equipment rooms, professor research offices, experimental research labs, and electron microscopy rooms, establishing a joint research system among companies, universities, and research institutes.

Shinhyuk Lim, CEO of Immunobiome, said, “By expanding and relocating our headquarters including laboratories to POSTECH BOIC, we have secured a research environment that is much improved compared to before. We expect to achieve even better results as we conduct research aiming to enter clinical trials next year.” He added, “We plan to accelerate microbiome-based new drug development by strengthening industry-academia-research collaboration.”

The BOIC completion ceremony held on the 26th was attended by Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province; Lee Kang-deok, Mayor of Pohang; Kim Moo-hwan, President of POSTECH; Kim Byung-wook, member of the People Power Party; Sung Young-chul, Chairman of Genexine; and about 50 representatives of bio companies. Afterwards, a site tour of the resident companies, including Immunobiome, was conducted. In particular, a separate introduction of Immunobiome was held, which reportedly drew deep interest in how excellent basic research is connected to industrialization.

Immunobiome is developing patient-customized microbiome therapeutics targeting intractable diseases such as autism and cancer, autoimmune diseases including lupus, organ transplant rejection, and neurological diseases. On the 3rd of this month, it signed a CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) agreement with BIOSE, a global microbiome therapeutic CDMO company, recognizing the possibility of success in new drug development and securing a stable raw material supply channel. Production of products is scheduled to begin by the end of this year.