Matica BIOLABS, a subsidiary of Cha Biotech, announced on Wednesday that it has entered into a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) agreement with Jeongjin Bioscience for mesenchymal stem cell culture media production.
Under this agreement, Matica BIOLABS will produce high-quality stem cell culture media for Jeongjin Bioscience.
Matica BIOLABS’ stem cell culture media contains various growth factors, antioxidants, and cytokines secreted by cells during the stem cell cultivation process. Jeongjin Bioscience plans to use this media to develop medical devices for skin regeneration.
In a separate development, Matica BIOLABS has expanded its operations by signing a comprehensive business agreement with Humic, a non-clinical contract research organization (CRO). The two companies aim to establish a long-term partnership, combining their contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) capabilities with clinical trial services.
The collaboration will explore opportunities in various areas, including pharmaceutical information exchange, non-clinical sample production, process development through efficacy and toxicity evaluations, and regulatory compliance for drug approvals.
Matica BIOLABS recently secured contracts at Bio Korea 2026, held at the Convention and Exhibition Center (COEX) in Seoul.
Byung-jo Min, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Matica BIOLABS, stated that leveraging over two decades of biopharmaceutical research and development (R&D) and production experience from the Cha Biotech Group, it will continue to enhance the production and quality support to help the clients bring their technologies to market.
In addition, Matica BIOLABS will contract-manufacture CAR-NK (Chimeric Antigen Receptor Natural Killer) cell therapies for the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Therapeutics.
This contract involves the manufacturing and quality testing of UCI Therapeutics’ CAR-NK therapy UCI-101, which is currently in development.
UCI-101 is an innovative immunotherapy designed to simultaneously target two antigens, CD19 and CD22, expressed by cancer cells. This dual-target approach aims to address antigen loss issues and improve therapeutic efficacy.
The company believes UCI-101’s strategy can overcome limitations of traditional Chimeric Antigen Receptor T (CAR-T) therapies, which typically target a single antigen. CAR-T therapies may lose effectiveness if cancer cells evade the targeted antigen.
UCI Therapeutics has developed its proprietary CellTaCT platform, which genetically modifies NK cells to express CARs targeting solid tumors while secreting proteins that modulate the tumor microenvironment. This technology enables treatment for solid tumors, and the company is also developing cell and gene therapies for solid tumors using this platform.
Matica BIOLABS provides clinical-stage cell therapy manufacturing and analysis services, leveraging its infrastructure and quality management expertise in good manufacturing practice (GMP)-based cell therapy production. Through this collaboration, the company aims to expand its CDMO business into the promising field of CAR-NK therapies.