CHA Biotech Secures Government Backing to Advance Cell and Gene Therapy Platforms Toward Clinical Development
核心洞察
CHA Biotech (搜索) won a 31.5 billion won ($22.7 million) government-funded project under the 2026 K-HERO Program to advance its cell and gene therapy platforms toward clinical development.
The company will develop CHAMS, a mesenchymal stem cell-based source-cell platform, and CHAGE, a therapeutic gene platform, with lead candidate CHAGE-201 (搜索) targeting idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (搜索).
CHA Biotech (搜索) was also selected as a joint research institution for the K-CGTAP project, a roughly 13.7 billion won initiative to build a public quality assessment platform for advanced biopharmaceuticals.
CHA Biotech (搜索) has secured government backing for a three-and-a-half-year research project aimed at pushing its cell and gene therapy (CGT) platforms toward clinical development, with 31.5 billion won ($22.7 million) in funding. The biotechnology company announced Tuesday that it was selected for a follow-up research and development project under the 2026 K-HERO Development and Support Program, led by the Ministry of Science and ICT and administered by the Korea Industrial Technology Association.
The program supports corporate research centers working on national strategic technologies, with the goal of developing core technologies and turning them into commercial products. CHA Biotech (搜索) will use the funding to develop and commercialize two platforms: CHAMS, a standardized source-cell platform based on mesenchymal stem cells (搜索), and CHAGE, which uses therapeutic genes to enhance cell function.
Advancing a Platform Approach Across Hard-to-Treat Diseases
The company said it plans to combine the platforms into a development system that can be applied across a range of hard-to-treat diseases, rather than being limited to a single condition. Its lead pipeline under the project is CHAGE-201 (搜索), an experimental treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (搜索), a progressive disease in which lung tissue becomes increasingly scarred and lung function deteriorates.
CHA Biotech (搜索) said it will further test CHAGE-201 (搜索)'s efficacy and mechanism of action while establishing the chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) system needed to produce clinical trial material. The work will include establishing cell banks, good manufacturing practice (GMP) processes, quality testing and characterization systems, as well as conducting nonclinical safety studies needed for a domestic investigational new drug (IND) application.
The company plans to use the resulting manufacturing, quality control and clinical development infrastructure for additional candidates, initially targeting fibrotic diseases and later neurological and autoimmune disorders. It added that the project would help turn the company's stem cell expertise into a cell and gene therapy platform with clinical and commercial potential.
Building a Public Quality Assessment Platform Through K-CGTAP
In a separate initiative, CHA Biotech (搜索) has been selected as a joint research institution for a project to build a quality assessment technology platform for advanced biopharmaceuticals, known as K-CGTAP, and to create an ecosystem for its public use. The research runs from April 2026 through December 2030, a period of about four years and nine months. Of the roughly 13.7 billion won in total research and development costs, about 12.7 billion won will come from government funding.
CHA Bundang Medical Center at CHA University leads the project, with CHA Biotech (搜索), the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Korea University, the CHA University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation and the Korea Testing & Research Institute participating jointly. K-CGTAP aims to build a public quality assessment platform that can be used consistently from research and development through GMP manufacturing and preparation of IND applications.
Drawing on its experience in developing stem cell, immune cell and genetically modified cell therapies along with its GMP production and quality control capabilities, CHA Biotech (搜索) will take part in developing analytical methods and potency assays for cell therapies. The company will use its own pipeline to verify the suitability and reproducibility of these methods, and the validated technologies will be used as manufacturing and quality control data required for IND applications. CHA Biotech also plans to work with its U.S. subsidiary Matica Biotechnology (搜索) to test whether domestic standard test methods can be applied at manufacturing sites in the United States.
"For the clinical development and commercialization of CGT, analytical technology that assesses product quality and characteristics at a level meeting global regulatory standards is critical," said Nam Soo-yeon, president of research and development at CHA Biotech (搜索). "We will reduce Korean companies' reliance on overseas analysis while laying the groundwork for domestic quality assessment technology to be used in the global regulatory environment."