GICELL Announces Research Collaboration with HK inno.N for next-generation CAR-NK therapy

AsiaToday reporter Kim Si Yeong

GI CELL announced research and development collaboration for allogenic CAR-NK candidates with HK inno.N on August 29th, 2022.

The companies plan to advance the development of numerous CAR-NK therapies by harnessing GICELL's outstanding research competency and HK inno.N's extensive experience in development and commercialization of anticancer therapies. As part of this agreement, the companies may open up a discussion on further developments, including clinical development and commercialization, if they succeed in discovering CAR-NK cell product candidates and producing non-clinical samples.

GICELL, pioneering novel technology for large-scale immune cell manufacturing, expects to demonstrate its technology on scalable culture under this research agreement.

In February, GICELL set a new world record in culturing highly active natural killer cells with 200 liters. The company's manufacturing technology obtained a patent registration decision in Taiwan in July, following the corresponding patent registration in Korea at the beginning of the year.

HK inno.N, a company deeply committed to the development of breakthrough therapies and biopharmaceutical products with high market value, has developed K-CAB Tablet, a new blockbuster drug, and is enjoying unbeatable shares in basic fluid and anti-hangover beverage markets. Currently, the company has established GMP facilities based on its belief in the anticancer therapeutic potential of cell and gene therapy products as a future growth engine and seeks to secure its core competitiveness by developing a wide range of pipelines.

Sung Yoo Cho, CSO and Vice President of GICELL, a global expert on CAR-NK, confidently commented, "Allogeneic NK cells developed by GICELL have joined the lead group in the CAR-NK field by avoiding NK cell exhaustion through the adjustment of binding force of cytokine receptors during the cell culture and markedly improving the efficiency of CAR gene introduction in NK cells, which are generally known as challenging for gene expression, compared to T cells."

Sung Yong Won, Head of the Bio Research Center and Managing Director of HK inno.N said, "HK inno.N is conducting research with many companies possessing technological competitiveness in cell therapy products to accelerate the development of anticancer immune cell therapy products. The company will continue to develop its promising CAR-NK pipelines through this research and development collaboration with GICELL."

GICELL and HK inno.N will co-develop CAR-NK programs with the aim of initiating the clinical phase of CAR-NK cell therapy products by 2024.