GC said Monday that it has dedicated a new integrated research center in a ceremony Friday.

GC Chairman and CEO Huh Il-sup (center) and other company officials cut a ribbon to dedicate GC Cell Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Friday.

The new facility, called GC Cell Center, is one of the largest labs for research and development of cell therapy products in Asia with the floor space of 20,900 square meters.

The company expects the new center will play a pivotal role in the field of cell therapy, and plans to unite all its R&D units into the new compound, including GC, GC Cell, GC Labcell and GC Genome.

“With the establishment of the new facility, GC will have an integrated R&D system, including Mogam Institute for Biomedical Research focusing on basic research, and GC Research Institute,” the company said. “We plan to facilitate the fusion and hybrid R&D tasks beyond our existing boundaries through the new lab.”

GC will focus on unique research on a company-by-company basis and gradually increase joint tasks, it added.

GC Cell, for instance, is planning to develop new products such as CAR-T, a next-generation cell therapy drug, at the center, while preparing to produce Immuncell-LC, its immune cancer drug, by the end of next year.

GC Labcell will continue to develop next-generation anticancer drugs using natural killer (NK) cells, and GC Genome plans to concentrate on coming up with new test methods.

“The cell center will play a key role in the R&D of cell therapy products as the company's future growth engine,” GC Chairman and CEO Huh Il-sup said. “We will continue to create new value by preempting the global market.”

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