· LG Chem plans to develop gene and cell therapy products using MEDIPOST’s high-efficiency cell culture technology

MEDIPOST and LG Chem announced on the 23rd that they signed a technology transfer agreement for MEDIPOST’s MLSC technology, a high-efficiency cell culture platform technology for culturing raw cells for gene and cell therapy.

Since the end of 2018, the two companies have conducted joint research to develop gene and cell therapy products under a research collaboration agreement to discover new drug candidates. Based on the results of this open innovation research, the companies entered the technology transfer agreement as a follow-up contract.

Under this technology transfer agreement, MEDIPOST will grant LG Chem the license to develop and commercialize products using high-efficiency mesenchymal stem cells and related technologies, such as high-efficiency cell culture platform technology. LG Chem plans to develop and expand its innovative gene and cell therapy product pipelines by combining its own gene technologies with licensed technologies.

MEDIPOST’s cell culture platform technology, MLSC, is a next-generation stem cell platform technology built on the company’s 20 years of experience in cell selection and culture. The technology enables the mass-production of high-efficiency cells and maximizes therapeutic effects as active cells reach their targets more accurately.

Under this contract, MEDIPOST will first receive upfront payment with no return conditions. Later, the company will receive milestone payments, based on the progress of LG Chem’s global clinical development and revenues from commercialization, as well as additional royalty based on net sales. LG Chem will have the exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize gene and cell therapy products discovered by the two companies through joint research.

The two companies believe that they can significantly increase the possibility of global success through innovative new drugs, by combining MEDIPOST’s proven and unique cell culture platform technology with LG Chem’s genetic manipulation technology and experiences in global-scale new drug development.

Yang Yoon-sun, CEO of MEDIPOST, said, “Through the synergy achieved by the two companies’ active collaboration, we were able to discover optimal gene and cell therapy product candidates,” and, “Since this technology transfer only grants the license for open cell culture platform technology, we will continue to develop our own pipelines and consider technology transfers with other companies as well. I believe this will greatly speed up the transfer of our open platform technology.”

Son Jeewoong, President of LG Chem’s Life Sciences Company, said, “We have confirmed the potential of developing innovative gene and cell therapy products from our two years of joint research with MEDIPOST, the most competent company in the stem cell field in Korea.” He also explained that “the company plans to focus on the development of innovative gene cell therapy products and introduce first-in-class products that can fundamentally treat diseases with high unmet medical needs in the global market.”

*MLSC Platform
– MEDIPOST’s next-generation cell culture platform technology. A Small Cell-CMH process, as a part of the SMUP platform process, selects high-efficiency small cells and cultivates them in a specific environment created with MEDIPOST’s proprietary technology.