GC Cell to work with Southeast Asia’s largest drugmaker to enter Indonesia

GC Cell said on Thursday it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with PT Bifarma Adiluhung, a subsidiary of PT Kalbe Farma Tbk, the largest pharmaceutical group in Southeast Asia, to enter the Indonesian market with its autologous cell therapy Immuncell-LC.

Under the MOU, the two companies will discuss a broad range of strategic collaborations related to the entry of Immuncell-LC, the “world’s only drug” approved for adjuvant therapy in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), into the Indonesian market, technology transfer, and further development of the company's pipeline of NK cell therapies.

GC Cell officially announced at the recent 2024 BIO International Convention (2024 BIO USA) that it would seek full-scale overseas expansion of its self-developed cell therapies as one of its main strategies for growth.

PT Bifarma Adiluhung is a leading company in the stem cell therapeutics sector in Indonesia, with the first GMP manufacturing facility in Indonesia. Its parent company, PT Kalbe Farma Tbk, is the largest pharmaceutical group in Southeast Asia with a market capitalization of 7 trillion won ($5 billion).

Indonesia has the largest population in Southeast Asia and the healthcare industry there is experiencing high growth thanks to the introduction of universal healthcare.

In Indonesia, autologous cell therapy products are expected to have early market entry and high market potential due to access to medical procedures based on clinical efficacy and safety data, similar to Japan, GC Cell said.