HK Innoen and Abclone Collaborate on CAR-T Therapy Development

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] HK inno.N is partnering with cell therapy specialist company Abclon to begin contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) services for CAR-T cell therapies.

On the 14th, HK inno.N announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Abclon for the joint development of CAR-T cell therapies. Going forward, the two companies will specifically discuss the scope of joint development for clinical trials, product manufacturing, and commercialization of Abclon's blood cancer treatment CAR-T cell therapy 'AT101.' They will also pursue collaboration on the development of Abclon's subsequent CAR-T cell therapy pipeline. The formal CDMO contract is expected to be signed within the first half of this year.

Abclon's AT101 is a CAR-T cell therapy targeting blood cancers and received approval for phase 1 and 2 clinical trials at the end of last year. AT101 was developed based on antibodies discovered through Abclon's antibody discovery platform. It is expected to offer novelty and differentiated efficacy compared to existing CAR-T cell therapies. Nonclinical trial results have shown that AT101 demonstrated equal or superior effects, including killing cancer cell models that are refractory or relapsed after existing CAR-T cell therapies.

HK inno.N is focusing on cell therapies such as CAR-T and CAR-NK as future growth engines and has established a cell and gene therapy (CGT) platform in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province. The CGT platform was built to the largest scale in Korea, enabling everything from research and clinical trial drug manufacturing to commercial therapeutic production.

Won Sung-yong, head of the Bio Research Institute at HK inno.N, said, "Through this joint development collaboration, we aim to contribute to the advancement of cutting-edge biopharmaceutical technologies and expect rapid market entry. We will concentrate our R&D capabilities to ensure smooth progress of the first cell therapy CDMO project."

An Abclon representative stated, "We want to provide significant help to blood cancer patients through the swift and efficient commercialization of AT101. We plan to seek stable product launch through joint development with HK inno.N."

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