CHA Biotech said Monday that it has signed a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) agreement with Cell in Cells, a regenerative medicine cell therapies developer, to provide organoid treatment for cartilage diseases.

Under the agreement, CHA Biotech will establish a cell bank of high-quality stem cells at its subsidiary's drug-making facility, Cha Biolab, to develop organoid regenerative therapies and provide them for Cell in Cells. Organoid regeneration therapy was selected as a national high-tech strategic technology by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2023.

CHA Biotech said the agreement will enable Cell in Cells to speed up the development of stem cell-derived organoid regenerative therapies and CHA Biotech to produce clinical drugs after establishing the cell bank.

Cell in Cells has a pipeline of organoid regenerative therapies for various diseases, including skin regeneration, cartilage regeneration, and angiogenesis. Its technology can mass-produce uniform organoids with a probability of over 95 percent. To expand and upgrade its technology, the company is pushing to fuse organoids and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to automate production, establish standards and test methods, and develop solutions to optimize mass production.

Organoid therapeutics help regenerate human organ analogs by culturing cells in three dimensions and transplanting them into damaged parts. They are characterized by a higher engraftment rate and persistence than two-dimensional stem cell therapies.

"In 2023, we received the first clinical plan approval for organoid regeneration therapy from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and are conducting clinical trials," Cell in Cells CEO Cho Jae-jin said. "We are sequentially developing organoid regeneration therapies using cell banks, such as skin and osteoarthritis, which have high unmet medical needs."

CHA Biotech CEO Oh Sang-hoon said, "With this agreement, we will actively support Cell in Cells in developing stem cell-derived organoid therapies by utilizing Cha Biogroup's capabilities. We will also support Cell in Cells’ U.S. clinical trial and global expansion by utilizing the CDMO facilities of our U.S. subsidiary, Matica Biotechnology."