Medipost acquires Canada’s OmniaBio for CDMO business

Medipost Co., a South Korean biotechnology company, has acquired a 39.6% stake in OmniaBio Inc., a Canada-based cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) firm, for 29.5 billion won, or C$30 million.

The stake purchase is aimed at launching a CDMO business in North America, the Korean company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.

Medipost plans to further raise its stake in OmniaBio by purchasing convertible bonds worth 59.1 billion won by the end of 2024, it said.

Its total investment in the Canadian CDMO company will reach C$90 million with an aim to become OmniaBio’s largest shareholder by 2027, according to Medipost.

Located in Hamilton, Ontario, OmniaBio is a subsidiary of the Center for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM), a non-profit organization under the Canadian federal government.

OmniaBio is currently working on a project to expand its CDMO facilities for cell and gene therapies (CGTs) by 8,500 square meters to 10,000 square meters by 2025.

“OmniaBio has a strong customer network in North America. Through the acquisition of the company, we’ll be able to comfortably enter the CDMO market in the region,” said a Medipost official.

Medipost’s main product is Cartistem released in 2012, used for the treatment of knee cartilage defects in patients with Osteoarthritis caused by degeneration or repetitive trauma.

Cartistem boasts the world’s highest accumulated sales in the stem cell therapy sector.

In addition to Cartistem, the company is also pursuing clinical trials of its second-generation stem cell treatment SMUP-Cell. The new stem cell therapy product passed its second clinical trial in South Korea last October.

Medipost plans to manufacture Cartistem and SMUP-Cell products for clinical trials at OmniaBio’s facilities.

Write to Jae-young Han at jyhan@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.