ChabioTech's US Subsidiary MaticaBio Appoints Song Yoon-jung as New CEO

Physician, Researcher, and Entrepreneur Across Fields
Overseeing Cell Gene Therapy CDMO and Other Businesses

Song Yoon-jung, CEO of Matica Bio (Photo by Cha Biotech)

[Asia Economy Reporter Jihee Kim] ChabioTech announced on the 17th that its U.S. subsidiary, Matica Biotech, has appointed Song Yoon-jung as the new CEO.

CEO Song graduated from Seoul National University College of Medicine and obtained board certification in internal medicine in the United States. She also studied immunology during her rheumatology fellowship at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). She was in charge of biopharmaceutical development at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, the predecessor of Samsung Bioepis and Samsung Biologics. In 2014, she served as the early clinical development leader for Sanofi's Asia-Pacific region. From 2016, she served as CMO and CEO at ImmunOncia, an immuno-oncology company established as an international joint venture between Yuhan Corporation and the U.S. antibody drug development company Sorrento.

New CEO Song plans to leverage her experience as a physician, researcher, and entrepreneur to oversee Matica Biotech’s business, including contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) services for cell and gene therapies that meet customer needs. Former CEO So Byung-se will move to serve as CEO of Matica Holdings, focusing on global business expansion strategies by utilizing over 20 years of expertise gained at Samsung Electronics. Matica Biotech expects the synergy effect from the combined experience and know-how of the two CEOs.

ChabioTech CEO Oh Sang-hoon said, "With CEO Song’s joining, we expect Matica Biotech to provide customized CDMO services to clients in earnest," adding, "Matica Biotech will secure differentiated competitiveness in the U.S., European, and Asian cell and gene therapy CDMO markets by linking with the 65,127㎡ (approximately 20,000 pyeong) second Pangyo Techno Valley GMP facility to be completed in 2024, thereby generating profits and future growth engines."

Matica Biotech is a subsidiary established by ChabioTech in Texas, U.S., to produce viral vectors, a core raw material for cell and gene therapies. In February, it broke ground on a cGMP facility equipped with global-standard manufacturing equipment in College Station, Texas, scheduled for completion by the end of this year. Through this facility, Matica Biotech plans to produce viral vectors such as lentiviral vectors and adeno-associated virus vectors used in next-generation anticancer drugs and other cell and gene therapies.