Matica BioLabs has secured a contract to manufacture UC Therapeutics’ innovative chimeric antigen receptor natural killer (CAR-NK) cell therapy.
On Monday, Matica BioLabs, a subsidiary of CHA Biotech Co., Ltd. (KOSDAQ: 085660), announced a partnership with UC Therapeutics to produce the novel immunotherapy.
Under the agreement, Matica BioLabs will be responsible for contract manufacturing and quality testing of UC Therapeutics’ promising CAR-NK treatment, dubbed UCI-101.
UCI-101 is a groundbreaking immunotherapy for blood cancers, engineered to simultaneously target two antigens, CD19 and CD22, expressed on cancer cells. This dual-targeting approach aims to reduce to risk of antigen escape and potentially enhancing treatment efficacy.
UC Therapeutics believes UCI-101 could overcome the limitations of current chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies, which often lose effectiveness when cancer cells evade their single antigen target.
The biotech company has developed its proprietary CellTaCT platform, which genetically enhances NK cells to express CARs targeting solid tumors while secreting proteins that modulate the tumor microenvironment. This technology also underpins their ongoing development of gene therapies for solid tumors.
Matica BioLabs brings to the table its extensive experience in cell therapy production, including collaborations with industry giants like General Motors. This partnership marks their expansion into the burgeoning CAR-NK treatment sector, leveraging their established infrastructure and quality control expertise.
Min Park, CEO of Matica BioLabs, said that CAR-NK treatments represent a rapidly growing next-generation immunotherapy platform in the global market and that the company is committed to reliably delivering UC Therapeutics’ CAR-NK therapy while continuing to strengthen its position in the cell and gene therapy CDMO space.
Soo Young Jeong, CEO of UC Therapeutics, expressed confidence in the partnership, stating that the company highly values Matica BioLabs’ track record in CAR-T and CAR-NK production, as well as its robust manufacturing and quality control capabilities, and that it expects the collaboration to deliver meaningful benefits in upcoming clinical trials.
As a specialized CDMO for cell and gene therapies, Matica BioLabs is expanding its portfolio to include various next-generation technologies such as cell therapy, CAR-T, CAR-NK, and extracellular vesicles (EVs). The company aims to enhance its CDMO services, offering high-quality, competitively priced products from domestic developers while fostering broader industry collaborations.