Jeonnam Province, Positive Outlook for Annual 13 Trillion Won Global Cell Therapy Market

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Jeonnam Province announced on the 8th that with the recent full enforcement of the "Advanced Regenerative Medicine and Advanced Biopharmaceutical Safety and Support Act" (abbreviated as the Advanced Regenerative Bio Act), a green light has been turned on for the global cell therapy market worth 13 trillion KRW annually.

Accordingly, Jeonnam Province is showing swift movements to secure a leading position in the cell therapy market for rare and intractable diseases such as cancer and dementia, which are blue ocean markets in the biopharmaceutical field.

The core of the Advanced Regenerative Bio Act is to support cell therapy research for the development of treatments for rare and intractable diseases and to shorten the new drug development period by at least 3 to 4 years through expedited procedures. In particular, it is expected to facilitate the development of vaccines and therapeutics in response to the spread of new infectious diseases such as COVID-19.

Along with this, Jeonnam Province’s long-term plan to establish a global hub for cell therapy by taking the lead in cell therapy development is also expected to gain significant momentum.

Cell therapy is an advanced pharmaceutical that treats intractable diseases such as cancer and dementia by culturing living cells. The global cell therapy market is expected to reach 12 billion USD (approximately 13 trillion KRW) by 2025, maintaining a high annual growth rate of 40%.

In line with these global market trends, Jeonnam Province has planned to invest about 90 billion KRW in the cell therapy field from last year through 2025, proactively fostering next-generation new drug material development and infrastructure construction projects based on cell therapy.

In fact, in January last year, with the participation of Jeonnam National University, Jeju National University, and others, a total of 3.9 billion KRW was invested to initiate research and development of stem cell-derived new drugs for intractable diseases and functional cosmetic materials. In February last year, a 20 billion KRW scale "Immune Cell Therapy Industrialization Technology Platform Construction Project" was launched to support basic facilities and technologies for the rapid commercialization of cell therapy venture companies.

Additionally, to increase the success rate of animal experiments essential for new drug development, a 20 billion KRW scale "Disease Animal-Based Cell Therapy Efficacy Evaluation Platform Construction Project" is scheduled to be fully launched by the end of this year.

Especially, in May, Jeonnam Province attracted the Ministry of Science and ICT’s 46 billion KRW scale "National Immune Therapy Platform Construction Project," which will serve as the national control tower for the development of immune therapies for rare and intractable diseases such as cancer and dementia, to the Hwasun Vaccine Industrial Complex.

Currently, the Hwasun Vaccine Industrial Complex, the only one in Korea, houses the Jeonnam Biomedical Research Center, Korea Chemical Convergence Testing Institute, Hwasun Jeonnam National University Hospital, Microbial Demonstration Support Center, GC Green Cross, and others, establishing the nation’s only full-cycle biopharmaceutical platform.

Jeonnam Province sees competitiveness based on this cell therapy infrastructure and plans to strengthen technological competitiveness in cell therapy. It also intends to strategically expand investments in advanced core technologies such as gene therapy and tissue engineering materials to enter the regenerative medicine global market, which could reach up to 100 trillion KRW.

Furthermore, by specializing in the development of cell therapies and regenerative medicine, Jeonnam aims to play a pioneering role as a catalyst for attracting the National Advanced Medical Complex to Jeonnam.

An Sang-hyun, Director of the Economic Energy Bureau of Jeonnam Province, said, "If Jeollanam-do’s cell therapy development project succeeds, it will be a groundbreaking turning point for the treatment of rare and intractable diseases nationwide. Based on this, we will do our best to lead the 'post-COVID' era with the Jeonnam Biomedical Cluster and to play a value chain role in the national biopharmaceutical industry by attracting the Advanced Medical Complex."

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