CHA Hospital and Bio Group Break Ground on Cell and Gene Therapy CDMO Facility

Aerial View of the 'Cell Gene BioBank (CGB)' by CHA Hospital and Bio Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] Cha Hospital and Bio Group announced on the 30th that they held a groundbreaking ceremony for the ‘Cell Gene Biobank (CGB)’ at Pangyo 2nd Techno Valley, Geumto-dong, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province, on the morning of the 30th.

Cha Hospital and Bio Group plan to invest 300 billion KRW to complete the CGB by the end of 2024. The facility will be built with four basement floors and ten above-ground floors, covering a total floor area of 66,115㎡, making it the largest single facility in the field of cell and gene therapy (CGT) worldwide. It will house contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) facilities, cGMP manufacturing facilities, and a stem cell biobank. The building design incorporates DNA and cell motifs, reflecting the group’s goals and values as a leader in the bioindustry, a core growth engine of the 4th Industrial Revolution era.

Cha Kwang-ryeol, Director of the Global Comprehensive Research Institute at Cha Hospital and Bio Group, said, “The CGT CDMO business requires advanced technology and expertise compared to antibody therapeutic CDMO, whose manufacturing methods are already established. We will leverage Cha Biotech’s abundant R&D experience, process technology, and professional workforce to make CGB the Asian forward base for the CGT CDMO market.”

The CDMO facilities at CGB are designed to maximize production efficiency by enabling simultaneous manufacturing of CGT, messenger RNA (mRNA), viral vectors, and plasmid DNA (pDNA) within a single building. Each floor can produce individual products, and operations will comply with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pharmaceutical quality management standards, cGMP, to prevent contamination.

Additionally, the facility can store all human cells, including stem cells, umbilical cord blood, eggs and sperm, and NK cells. By applying patented cell separation, cultivation, and freezing technologies owned by Cha Hospital and Bio Group, the system is optimized for the development of next-generation cell and gene therapies.

Cha Hospital and Bio Group plan to create future growth engines centered on the cell and gene therapy CDMO business at CGB.

Among the group companies, Cha Biotech has been developing cell therapies for over 20 years, from embryonic and adult stem cells to immune cells, utilizing its extensive R&D experience accumulated not only domestically but also overseas, including the United States. It plans to advance the CGT CDMO business aligned with global standards.

Furthermore, the CDMO business experience and know-how of its U.S. subsidiary, Matica Biotechnology, which will be completed in the first half of this year, will also be integrated into CGB. By linking CGB, which will serve as a global production hub, with Matica Bio, the group aims to secure differentiated competitiveness in the CDMO markets of North America, Europe, and Asia.

CMG Pharmaceutical will enter the biopharmaceutical sector based on its R&D capabilities accumulated through the development of anticancer new drugs, orally disintegrating film (ODF) medicines, and improved new drugs. This will diversify its business portfolio and secure future growth engines. Cha Cares will establish and operate an advanced cGMP facility management system at CGB.