Daewoong Pharmaceutical said it has completed preparations for speeding up its entry into the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business.

The company said Wednesday that it received approval for an advanced regenerative medicine cell processing facility from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, securing all the qualifications needed for advanced biomedicine CDMO business.

Unlike contract manufacturing organization (CMO) business, which provides only production service, CDMO provides a broader research and development service, clinical trial, and production service. The significance of CDMO has been rising lately as a strategy to increase R&D productivity and diversify the development risk of biomedicine.

To develop and handle cutting-edge pharmaceutical products and cell and gene therapies, a company must obtain three approvals – for cutting-edge biomedicine manufacturing, human cell management business, and cell processing facility.

With the latest permission for a cell processing facility, the company said that Daewoong Pharmaceutical could supply collected, tested, and processed human cells to regenerative medical institutions, expanding its business domain.

Based on this, Daewoong Pharmaceutical will speed up its “All-in-one” business of cell, gene treatment, and advanced biomedicine, conducting production and development, quality test, licensing, storage, delivery, and sales.

“We will spur the development of advanced biomedicines by accelerating CDMO business based on the three approvals we received,” said Ryu Jae-hak, executive director of Daewoong Pharmaceutical Bio R&D Division. “Through this, we also aim to contribute to improving the quality of patients’ lives.”