MediPost Selected for National Project on 'Stem Cell Therapy Manufacturing Technology' with Total Budget of 13 Billion Won

Medipost announced on the 4th that it has been finally selected for the material component technology development (package type) project led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Exterior view of Medipost headquarters in Pangyo, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province [Photo by Medipost]

This national project aims to develop "advanced stem cell therapy clinical sample manufacturing technology based on animal-derived component-free culture media capable of securing global competitiveness" and will be conducted for about 3 years and 4 months (40 months) from last month until December 2026. The total project cost is 13 billion KRW, of which 7.7 billion KRW will be supported by government funding.

Medipost will lead the first sub-project and overall project management, while Beyondcell and Excel Therapeutics will participate in the second sub-project to conduct research and tasks. Through this national project, Medipost plans to develop customized animal-derived component-free culture media for stem cell therapies that can respond to global pharmaceutical regulatory agencies, as well as simplified production processes and advanced quality clinical sample manufacturing technology for stem cell therapies applying this media.

The Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT), which supervised the review, explained in its selection opinion, "Securing stem cell therapy manufacturing technology that can develop global clinical sample stem cell therapies and eliminate potential risks of animal-derived contamination to respond to uncertainties in international regulatory standards is expected to have a significant effect on entering the global market and substituting imports."

Culture media serve as nutrients necessary for cell proliferation and are used for culturing animal cells for pharmaceutical production or cells that are the main components of advanced biopharmaceuticals. Despite being a core element accounting for 30-60% of biopharmaceutical production costs, Korea currently relies 100% on imports.

Medipost, which holds cell culture technology as a core strategic technology for the mass production of the stem cell therapy "Cartistem," plans to develop an animal-derived component-free (AoF) serum-free chemically defined media to replace the existing fetal bovine serum (FBS) media and apply it to "Cartistem" to reduce costs and strengthen competitiveness in the stem cell therapy market.

A Medipost official said, "Following our selection as the top company in materials, parts, and equipment in March as the first bio company, we are very encouraged to be selected for this national project." He added, "We will utilize the technological achievements developed through this national project for the preparation of the US Phase 3 clinical trial of 'Cartistem' and the ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial in Japan, as well as for global clinical and market entry."

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