· MEDIPOST aims to develop autoimmune drugs and cancer immunotherapy drugs with enhanced therapeutic efficacy by utilizing immunomodulatory T cells and NK cells
· IMMUNIQUE is a startup company that can minimize trial and error in the development of new drugs by sharing its parent company’s know-how in developing new drugs and raw cells with proven quality

MEDIPOST announced on the 2nd that it has established a drug development company specializing in umbilical cord blood-derived immune cell therapy, “IMMUNIQUE”, and will start developing immune cell therapy through this company.

MEDIPOST holds a 99% stake in IMMUNIQUE. The name IMMUNIQUE consists of two words, “immune” and “unique.” The name represents the company’s firm determination to develop the best immune cell therapy. Recently, as there’s a growing need for allogeneic immune cell therapy to overcome the limitations of existing T-cell therapies in the global market, IMMUNIQUE aims to develop autoimmune drugs and cancer immunotherapy drugs with enhanced therapeutic efficacy by utilizing immunomodulatory T cells and NK cells separated and cultured from allogeneic cord blood.

Cord blood-derived immune cells are the most primitive and healthy cells. They are the least exposed to external factors that can cause genetic mutations, and cells themselves have excellent therapeutic functions. In particular, immunomodulatory cells cultured after separation from cord blood possess better long-term storage stability such as cell survival and recovery rate as well as efficacy and proliferation than those in adult blood.

IMMUNIQUE appointed Lee Young-ho, a professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescents at Hanyang University Hospital and a renowned expert in patient treatment and basic research using cord blood, as the company’s CEO. Yang Yoon-sun, CEO of MEDIPOST, and Oh Won-il, Head of R&D, will also participate as research advisors, to create synergy in R&D.

An officer of MEDIPOST said, “Separately from the existing stem cell therapy research teams, we decided to set up a new research team and establish a development company specialized in immune cell therapy to focus on R&D and accelerate the development speed based on those fresh ideas you can only find in startups.”

In addition, Lee Young-ho, CEO of IMMUNIQUE, said, “IMMUNIQUE may be a startup company, but it can minimize trial and error in the development of new drugs by sharing its parent company MEDIPOST’s know-how in developing and commercializing new drugs as well as the results of basic research on raw umbilical cord blood and cord blood cells with proven quality. That’s our competitive edge.” He also added, “The goal is to further improve the therapeutic efficacy by using stem cells to treat incurable diseases and to develop immune cell therapy that can be mass-produced.”