- Production and supply of pDNA samples for NK cell therapy development
- Discussion of future joint development of NK cell therapy and strategic investment
Reyon Pharmaceutical expands its biopharmaceutical business by entering the NK cell therapy market with a sample supply of pDNA (plasmid DNA).
Reyon Pharmaceutical (Representative Directors: Jung SoonOck, Yoo Yonghwan) announced on the 24th that the company had signed an MOU with Therabest (CEO, Ki Pyeong-seok) for business cooperation to supply pDNA samples for the development of NK cell therapy.
Through this MOU, Therabest will provide information on developing NK cell therapy to Reyon Pharmaceutical, which will produce and supply the k562 cell line and pDNA samples to develop NK cell therapy products based on such information.
Therabest is a biopharmaceutical R&D company that develops next-generation NK cell therapy products derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) for incurable diseases. In addition, the company has a specialized cGMP cell therapy facility and began producing products for clinical trials in 2023.
The next-generation NK cell therapy products can continuously produce NK cells from iPSCs even without blood. In particular, they are ready-made CAR-NK products homogeneously prepared from gene-edited iPSCs.
The two companies will discuss strategic investments in Therabest by Reyon Pharmaceutical and a joint clinical trial partnership for NK cell therapy.
Yoo Yonghwan, Representative Director of Reyon Pharmaceutical, said, "We will do our best to successfully develop the next-generation NK cell therapy by producing and supplying high-quality pDNA samples through seamless cooperation with Therabest." and emphasized, "In addition, based on Reyon Pharmaceutical's pDNA production capacity, we will continue to grow into various biopharmaceutical businesses."
Ki Pyeong-seok, CEO of Therabest, said, "We will secure core samples optimized for major processes such as gene editing and culturing next-generation NK cell therapy products through coherent collaboration with Reyon Pharmaceutical. In addition, the two companies should successfully speed up the entire process from clinical trials to commercialization through the combination of core competencies and stable sample supply."
Meanwhile, after completing the construction of the Chungju plant last year, Reyon Pharmaceutical has been discussing joint pipeline development and CMO business with many companies and, as a result, acquired orders to supply four types of pDNA (plasmid DNA) in April of this year. In addition, the company is speeding up a GMP certification for full-scale commercial production.
