[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] As 'Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT)' emerges as the next-generation growth engine in the bio industry, a wide range of companies?from established bio firms to large conglomerates?are rushing to enter the CGT market, intensifying competition.
According to industry sources on the 31st, Samsung's bio venture investment fund, the 'Life Science Fund,' recently selected a gene therapy company as its first investment target. The Life Science Fund is a bio venture fund worth 150 billion KRW, established with 99 billion KRW contributed by Samsung C&T, a Samsung Group affiliate, 49.5 billion KRW from Samsung Biologics, and 1.5 billion KRW from Samsung Venture Investment.
The company chosen by the Life Science Fund is the U.S.-based 'Jaguar Gene Therapy.' Founded in October 2019, Jaguar Gene Therapy is a bio venture specializing in adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapies. It was established by key researchers who developed 'Zolgensma,' an AAV gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy.
Currently, Jaguar Gene Therapy's main pipeline includes treatments for galactosemia (JAG101), autism related to specific genes (JAG201), and type 1 diabetes (JAG301). Among these, JAG101 and JAG201 have reached the preclinical stage. The company aims to initiate actual clinical trials next year. Samsung plans to participate as a strategic investor and collaborate with Jaguar Gene Therapy to discover and develop research programs.
Cha Hospital and Bio Group have announced their ambition to build the world's largest CGT Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) facility. The 'Cell Gene Biobank (CGB)' located in Geumto-dong, Pangyo 2nd Techno Valley, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province, where the groundbreaking ceremony was held the day before, is the project in question. With an investment of 300 billion KRW and a target completion date at the end of 2024, CGB will be constructed as a 4-basement-floor to 10-above-ground-floor building with a total floor area of 66,115 square meters, making it the largest single facility in the CGT field worldwide. It will house CDMO facilities, cGMP manufacturing facilities, and a stem cell biobank.
Notably, CGB is designed to maximize production efficiency by enabling simultaneous production of messenger RNA (mRNA), viral vectors, and plasmid DNA (pDNA) all within one building, in addition to CGT. Cha BioTech, affiliated with Cha Hospital and Bio Group, plans to operate the CGT CDMO business.
Domestic companies are eager to enter the CGT market because it is recognized as the next-generation growth engine in the bio industry. According to JP Morgan, the global gene therapy market was valued at 5 billion USD (approximately 6 trillion KRW) last year and is expected to grow rapidly at an average annual rate of 44% to reach 32 billion USD (approximately 39 trillion KRW) by 2026. This growth is driven by CGT's high efficacy and ease of administration. CGT is expected to offer the potential to cure rare genetic diseases, which previously required long-term treatment, with just one or two gene injections.
Accordingly, existing large corporations have also expressed their intention to enter the CGT market. SK, in January, invested 350 million USD (approximately 423.8 billion KRW) in CBM, a U.S.-based CGT CDMO, through its integrated CDMO corporation SK Pharmteco, becoming the second-largest shareholder. This big deal followed SK's acquisition of the French CGT CDMO Eposkesi nine months earlier.
CJ Group also acquired approximately 76% of Batavia Biosciences, headquartered in the Netherlands, last November. Batavia was founded by executives who led the research, development, and production of Janssen's COVID-19 vaccine and is recognized for its proprietary capabilities in developing efficient manufacturing processes for viral vaccines and vectors. CJ plans to leverage synergies with its existing subsidiary CJ Bioscience to enter the CGT CDMO business.
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