Chong Kun Dang accelerates development of new drugs

Researchers conduct an experiment to discover effective ingredients from natural materials at Chong Kun Dang's Hyojong Research Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, in this 2022 file photo. Courtesy of Chong Kun Dang

By Kim Jae-heun

Chong Kun Dang (CKD) is accelerating the development of new drugs by significantly expanding investments in research and development, the pharmaceutical company said Sunday.

During the first five months of this year, CKD spent 181.4 billion won ($141.7 million) or 12.2 percent of its annual sales in 2022 to expand the scope of new drug development to advanced biopharmaceuticals and antibody drug conjugates (ADC) such as gene and cell therapies. The pharmaceutical company is expected to focus on first-in-class drugs and responding to unmet needs in the medical market.

Last May, the CKD signed a memorandum of understanding with ENCell, a contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) company specializing in cell-genetic therapy and next-generation stem cell therapy, for strategic investments and joint research on cell-genetic therapy. CDMO refers to the development and production of medicine at the request of a client company that lacks any medical production facilities.

It also opened a gene therapy research center called “Gen2C” at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital in Seoul, last September, to develop treatments for rare diseases and “undruggable targets,” which refer to proteins that are not capable of being targeted with existing methods.

Recently, CKD signed a contract with Dutch biotechnology firm Synaffix to introduce ADC technology and secure the right to use three types of ADC platform technologies such as GlycoConnect, HydraSpace and toxSYN, to develop anticancer drugs.

“We plan to strengthen industry-academic cooperation and exchanges in relation to research and clinical trials, while conducting joint development through open innovation with other local and foreign companies,” a CKD official said.