CHA Biotech announced on Monday that its natural killer (NK) cell-based immunotherapy, CBT101, has been chosen for funding by Korea Drug Develpment Fund (KDDF). 

KDDF, a government-funded organization overseeing  drug development projects in Korea's pharmaceutical and biotech industries, will support CBT101 with research and development funding for two years.

CHA Biotech aims to develop large-scale production processes for CBT101, secure data and evidence for phase 2 clinical trials, and obtain investigational new drug (IND) approval to proceed with the trial. 

CBT101 is a pipeline for NK cell therapy aimed at treating recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM). This immune cell therapy involves extracting NK cells, which play a crucial role in innate immunity, from a patient’s blood and proliferating them outside the body. CBT101 received orphan drug designation from the U.S. FDA in September 2020. 

Investigator-initiated clinical trials have demonstrated the effect of prolonging survival in patients with rGBM and confirmed safety and tolerability of intravenous CBT101 in phase 1 clinical trials in patients with solid tumors, CHA Biotech said. 

Oh Sang-hoon, CEO of  CHA Biotech, said “We will leverage this government project to further advance our technologies, including the development of large-scale production processes, and accelerate the pace of commercialization of our products.”