WyBio-GICell Collaborate on CAR-NK Anticancer Therapy Development

Y-Biologics and GI Cell, an affiliate of GI Innovation, announced on the 22nd that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a business partnership to develop anticancer drug candidates using allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-natural killer (NK) cells.

Jang Woo-ik and Park Young-woo, co-CEOs of Y-Biologics, Hong Cheon-pyo, CEO of GI Cell, and Jang Myung-ho, Chief Scientific Advisor of GI Cell (front row from left), are posing for a commemorative photo at the signing ceremony of the business partnership agreement between Y-Biologics and GI Cell.
[Photo by GI Cell]

Through this collaboration, Y-Biologics plans to discover antibodies using its antibody discovery platform technology and nanobody library, and then integrate these with GI Cell’s CAR-NK cell development and mass culture technologies to jointly develop new targets aimed at leading the field of CAR-NK cell therapies targeting solid tumors.

Y-Biologics, an antibody drug development platform company, has established an antibody discovery platform including the human antibody library Y-Max-ABL and pH-responsive antibody discovery technology to respond to the tumor microenvironment, as well as the T-cell bispecific antibody platform ALiCE. Recently, based on Y-Max-ABL, it also succeeded in building Y-Max-Nano, a fully human antibody nanobody library. Starting with the CAR-NK collaboration with GI Cell, it is expected to provide key elements in the joint development of cell and gene therapies such as CAR-T and oncolytic viruses, bispecific antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), and radioimmunotherapy, which require high-efficiency targeting.

GI Cell has completed domestic Phase 1 clinical trials for its T.O.P. NK cell therapy pipeline targeting solid and hematologic cancers, demonstrating tolerability and safety, and began Phase 2a clinical trials last month, continuing to verify the safety and efficacy of its cell therapies. Based on this collaboration, Y-Biologics and GI Cell are expected to accelerate the expansion of their pipeline and the discovery of various new CAR-NK anticancer drug candidates.

Jang Myung-ho, Chief Scientific Advisor of GI Cell, said, "The NK cell therapy developed by GI Cell is designed to express special chemokine receptors to effectively penetrate solid tumors." He added, "Based on the antibody platform owned by Y-Biologics, we will do our best to introduce products that penetrate solid tumors more powerfully and surpass all existing CAR-NK cell therapies." Park Young-woo, Co-CEO of Y-Biologics, also stated, "Our company has been dedicated to antibody drug development and joint development with biopharmaceuticals requiring antibody targeting using our antibody discovery platform technology. Through this business cooperation, we aim to achieve another innovation and create an opportunity for mutual growth for both Y-Biologics and GI Cell."