Global New Drug Development Hub... Prestige Biopharma Innovative Drug Research Institute Officially Opens in Busan

Headquarters in Singapore, Innovative New Drug Research Institute in Myeongji Research District

Operating an Open Innovation Space for New Drug Development on 9,500 Pyeong

Busan City (Mayor Park Hyung-jun) held the opening ceremony of the Prestige BioPharma Busan Innovative New Drug Research Center (IDC, CEO Go Sang-seok), a Singaporean biopharmaceutical company, at 10 a.m. on the 13th in the Myeongji Research and Development District, Gangseo-gu.

About 200 people attended the opening ceremony, including Lee Jun-seung, Deputy Mayor of the city, Go Sang-seok, CEO of Prestige BioPharma IDC, Lee Jong-hwan, Vice Chairman of the City Council, Kim Hyung-chan, Mayor of Gangseo-gu, and Yoo Beop-min, Investment Policy Officer of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, to celebrate the opening.

Following the ceremony, an international symposium announcing a new leap for the IDC will be held for two days at the ROA Hall on the first floor of the headquarters.

The newly opened Prestige BioPharma IDC is the city's first and the only domestic bio-pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) center within an advanced investment district with large-scale foreign capital investment. It is built on a site of approximately 31,000㎡ with one basement floor and six above-ground floors. Construction began in January 2022 and was completed in October this year.

In September last year, through collaboration between the city and Prestige BioPharma, it was designated as an advanced investment district (advanced medical field) by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the only one nationwide among pharmaceutical and bio companies.

Prestige BioPharma, headquartered in Singapore, plans to complete a 'Full Value Chain' system covering everything from the development of antibody biopharmaceuticals to clinical trials, commercialization, and production through the opening of this innovative new drug research center (IDC) in Busan, focusing more on the development of innovative new drugs (First-in-class) as a specialized antibody new drug development company.

Research on 16 antibody new drug candidates, including the pancreatic cancer antibody new drug 'PBP1510' which has entered the clinical main track, the preclinical stage 'PBP1710', and the new modality 'ADC (antibody-drug conjugate)', is being conducted at the Myeongji IDC in Busan. With the introduction of advanced equipment and solutions, research efficiency is expected to increase.

Busan Myeongji IDC aims to become a hub for new drug development by drastically reducing new drug development costs and establishing a win-win model actively utilizing IDC's cell line development platform. An open innovation space for synergy through joint R&D as a converged cooperation model with biotech venture companies and university research institutes will be prepared on the second floor of the new building.

Also, with about 30% of the employees being PhD-level researchers leading the research, IDC plans to establish and operate systematic development plans in cooperation with external scholars.

Go Sang-seok, CEO of Prestige BioPharma IDC, stated, “IDC prides itself as the best domestic antibody biopharmaceutical development group with experience in discovering the 'PAUF biomarker' of the pancreatic cancer antibody new drug 'PBP 1510' and advancing it to clinical trials,” adding, “We will leap forward as a global new drug development hub researching antibody new drugs and reasonably priced biosimilars in this new research space.”

Mayor Park Hyung-jun said, “We expect that this innovative new drug research center, established with large-scale foreign capital investment by the highly skilled and growth-potential Prestige BioPharma Group, will be a catalyst for flourishing the bioindustry in the Busan region globally,” and added, “Last year, through collaboration between Prestige BioPharma and our city, 'Prestige BioPharma IDC' was selected as the only advanced investment district in the bio sector nationwide. We will continue to provide support so that the established industry-academia-research bio R&D virtuous cycle ecosystem can steadily grow.”