SK becomes top shareholder of US contract drug maker CBM

SK Pharmteco Co., a South Korean contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), said on Wednesday it has secured management rights of the US-based Center for Breakthrough Medicines (CBM), taking one step closer to joining the world’s top five contract manufacturers of cell and gene therapies.

The unit of SK Inc., a holding company, did not specify how big a stake it now holds in CBM, nor the deal size.

It just said it became the largest shareholder of CBM after exercising a call option attached to its $350 million investment in the Pennsylvania-based CDMO last year.

The acquisition comes after it acquired a 70% stake in Yposkesi, a French bio-contract manufacturing organization (CMO) in 2021.

With the acquisition of CBM, SK Pharmteco has completed its supply chain for chemical and biologic drugs, as well as cell and gene therapies, in the US and Europe, which account for more than half of the global pharmaceutical market.

CBM is the largest and most comprehensive single-site cell and gene therapy CDMO, offering pre-clinical to commercial phase therapies, according to SK.

The US company’s business covers process development, the design and manufacture of plasmid DNA, viral vector manufacturing, cell banking, cell processing, testing and analytics and fill/finish.

Plasmid DNA is a raw material for cell and cell gene therapies.

Viral vector manufacturing refers to a virus-based gene delivery system for safely and efficiently administering therapeutic DNA to the human body after inserting it into the virus.

According to market research firm Evaluate Pharm, the cell and gene therapy market has enormous growth potential. It forecast the market to grow by about 49% a year to $55.6 billion by 2025 from $7.5 billion in 2021. 

CBM is constructing a 65,000-square-meter GMP-grade facility, the world's largest single production facility for cell and gene therapies, scheduled for completion in 2025.

GMP is short for good manufacturing practice guidelines, which in this sector delineate the minimum standards that must be met to ensure quality in pharmaceutical manufacturing and management.

CBM is located in the Greater Philadelphia area, the core of Cellicon Valley, the only biopharma cluster in the US specializing in CGT.

Cellicon Valley is the optimal base from which to pursue the CGT business in terms of sourcing CDMO-related technology, clients and talents, SK said.

“The acquisition of CBM, which has differentiated competitiveness, will be a major driving force for SK Pharmteco's growth in the US biopharmaceutical market,” Kim Yeon-tae, head of SK Inc.’s Bio Investment, said in a statement.

SK Pharmteco plans to integrate operations of biomanufacturing facilities with Yposkesi. The French company completed its second factory last June, expanding its total production facility to 10,000 square meters, the largest in Europe.

Meanwhile, the SK Group arm has been in talks with preferred bidder Seoul-based Brain Asset Management Co. to sell its stake worth $500 million in a pre-initial public offering funding round with a targeted 2025 listing.

Write to Ye-Na Kim at yena@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.