CHA Biotech Selected for Ministry of Science and ICT's K-HERO Promotion and Support Project

[Financial News] CHA Biotech will use government support to further strengthen its clinical development capabilities for its in-house cell and gene therapy platform. On the 25th, CHA Biotech said it had been selected for the follow-up research and development (R&D) project of the 2026 K-HERO Promotion and Support Project, which is overseen by the Ministry of Science and ICT and carried out by the Korea Industrial Technology Association (KOITA) as the specialized agency.
The K-HERO Promotion and Support Project is designed to identify corporate research institutes with strong R&D capabilities in national strategic technology fields, support the securing and commercialization of core and foundational technologies, and nurture them into research institutes that can lead the global market.
Through this project, CHA Biotech will receive a total of 3.15 billion won in R&D funding over three years and six months. The project is titled "Development and commercialization strategy for therapeutic products based on MSC cell line (CHAMS) and combinatorial gene expression-enhanced cells (CHAGE) for global clinical application."
The company plans to upgrade its existing mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) R&D capabilities by combining CHAMS, a standardized source cell platform, with CHAGE, which enhances cell function by introducing therapeutic genes into cells, into a next-generation cell and gene therapy development platform.
The core pipeline of the project is CHAGE-201, a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). CHA Biotech plans to further verify CHAGE-201's efficacy and mechanism of action, while also establishing a chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) system for producing investigational products.
It also plans to establish systems for cell banking, GMP manufacturing processes, quality testing and characterization, and to conduct nonclinical safety studies to secure the data needed for a domestic investigational new drug application (IND).
The company plans to validate the clinical applicability of the CHAMS-CHAGE platform through CHAGE-201 and then expand it into follow-up pipelines. It will first broaden its application to fibrotic diseases, then extend its use to intractable conditions such as neurological and autoimmune diseases.
It also aims to use the platform as a basis for identifying follow-up candidates and building a foundation for commercialization through global technology transfer and joint development.
Nam Soo-yeon, head of R&D at CHA Biotech, said, "The selection for this K-HERO follow-up R&D project will be an important opportunity to expand our stem cell R&D capabilities into gene-based enhanced cell therapy technology and advance them into a clinical and commercialization platform." She added, "We will push ahead with CHAGE-201's entry into clinical trials without setbacks, while expanding the scope of the CHAMS-CHAGE platform to secure global competitiveness."

[email protected] Kang Jung-mo Reporter