SK is stepping up efforts to emerge as a global cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO).
The company said Sunday that it has become the second-largest shareholder of CBM, a U.S. CDMO specializing in cell and gene therapy, by investing $350 million (about 420 billion won) through SK Pharmteco.
CBM has R&D capabilities in plasmid and viral vectors, key raw materials for cell and gene therapy. A plasmid is DNA that bacteria have outside the cell nucleus, and companies can deliver plasmid into the human body by inserting a therapeutic gene into it. Plasmid and viral vectors have recently received attention due to their use in developing Covid-19 vaccines.
According to Deloitte, a global consultant, the cell and gene therapy market is estimated to grow at an annual average rate of about 25 percent until 2025, surpassing antibody therapy, currently the largest biopharmaceutical market.
Over the past five years, SK Corp. has laid the groundwork to become a major player in the CDMO market through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in major pharmaceutical markets worldwide.
Following the acquisition of Bristol-Myers Squibb's manufacturing facility in Ireland in 2017, the company acquired AMPAC, a U.S.-based CDMO for active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in 2018, and Yposkesi, a French-based cell and gene therapy CDMO, in 2021.
In 2019, the company established SK Pharmteco, an integrated global CDMO company.
Through these acquisitions, SK has already established itself as one of the world’s top five CDMOs in chemical and synthetic drugs.
"We believe that the partnership between the two companies will greatly contribute to winning permission and commercializing thousands of new therapies," CBM Chairman Brian O'Neill said.
Lee Dong-hoon, head of SK's Bio Investment Center, also said, "Through the CBM investment, the company has secured the core of the CMO's financial scenario of completing the value chain of the synthetic and biopharmaceutical business at major bases in the U.S., Europe, and Asia by 2025."
Lee added that the company would be reborn as the global top cell and gene therapy CDMO through intensive fostering of CDMO business.