[Announcement+] NKMAX "Obtains US Patent for Technology Enabling Mass Production of High-Quality NK Cell Therapy"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] NKMAX announced on the 29th that it has obtained a U.S. patent for its immune cell therapy manufacturing technology (SuperNK) that mass-produces high-quality NK cells isolated from peripheral blood in vitro.

This patent is a manufacturing production technology patent related to the "Method of producing natural killer cells and composition for treating cancer." It is a technology that can mass-produce high-quality NK cell therapies thousands of times over through long-term culture without using various cytokines.

The proportion of NK cells in the blood is about 10-15%. Therefore, to obtain a large amount of NK cells from a small amount of peripheral blood, long-term culture is required. However, when cultured for about a month, there was a limitation due to NK cell aging, which hindered proper cultivation. Additionally, in cancer patients, NK cell activity is low, and depending on the patient's characteristics, sufficient culture may not be achieved, so only 3-4 doses of therapy could be produced from less than 100ml of blood.

Yongman Kim, Head of Research at NKMAX, stated, "Regardless of the characteristics of cancer patients, it is possible to mass-produce NK cells thousands to billions of times from a small amount of peripheral blood (70-80ml) over a long period, and even with long-term culture, the NK cells maintain high anticancer cytotoxicity. This is the difference from existing technologies." He added, "For allogeneic cell therapies, mass production of such high-quality NK cell therapies on the scale of millions of doses is an essential requirement. Upon commercialization, this technology will provide a significant advantage in the production and supply of allogeneic immune cell therapies."

Sangwoo Park, CEO of NKMAX, said, "We have already secured the immune cell therapy substance SNK01 by applying this technology and are currently conducting a Phase 1 clinical trial in the U.S. targeting refractory cancers." He added, "In Korea, we are conducting Phase 1/2a clinical trials targeting non-small cell lung cancer patients."

He continued, "The Phase 1 clinical trial in Mexico targeting psoriasis is also expected to be completed soon. With the acquisition of the U.S. patent, NKMAX has secured an exclusive position in the U.S. market for manufacturing technology that overcomes the limitations of mass production of immune cell therapies. We plan to expand our pipeline beyond autologous cell therapies to include allogeneic cell therapies and CAR-NK therapies currently under research and development," he emphasized.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.