Gwangju Metropolitan City Pursues Development of AI-Based Vaccine Manufacturing and Quality Management Technology

【Financial News, Jeonnam-Gwangju—Hwang Tae-jong】Technology is being developed to analyze and predict variations in vaccine manufacturing processes using artificial intelligence (AI) and manage quality in real time, leveraging the production infrastructure at GC Biopharma’s plant in Hwasun County, Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City (Gwangju Metropolitan City).
 Gwangju Metropolitan City said on the 10th that the “Development of an AI-Based Vaccine Manufacturing Variability Control and Intelligent Quality Management System” project, led by GC Biopharma, was selected for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s “2026 Biohealth Research and Development Program,” securing KRW 5 billion in government funding.
 The project is part of a support initiative for a national advanced strategic industry bio-specialized complex. It will be carried out through 2030 with a total budget of KRW 7.6 billion. GC Biopharma is leading the project, with Mokpo National University, Daegu Catholic University (DCU), and the Jeonnam Bio Foundation participating as joint research institutions.
 In particular, the project will use the mRNA-LNP drug manufacturing and GMP production infrastructure at GC Biopharma’s Hwasun Plant to develop technology that analyzes and predicts variations in vaccine manufacturing processes with AI and manages quality in real time.
 Seo Hyeong-bin, head of Gwangju Metropolitan City’s Strategic Industries Bureau, said, "The selection of this project will further strengthen the AI-based biopharmaceutical manufacturing innovation capabilities of the Hwasun Bio Specialized Complex. We will enhance the competitiveness of related technologies in response to the artificial intelligence transformation (AX) and strengthen Jeonnam-Gwangju’s AI bio industry ecosystem."
 By participating institution, GC Biopharma will provide manufacturing data ranging from the drug substance (DS) to the drug product (DP) for mRNA-LNP vaccines. It will also verify process reproducibility through pilot production and GMP-scale production demonstrations.
 Mokpo National University and Daegu Catholic University will collect data on changes in process conditions and handle AI model training and validation. The Jeonnam Bio Foundation will secure the manufacturing and analytical data needed to build a purification-process prediction model.
 Meanwhile, Gwangju Metropolitan City plans to upgrade the regional bioindustry ecosystem by leveraging the full-cycle bio infrastructure located in the Hwasun Bio Specialized Complex, including Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, the National Immunotherapy Innovation Center, the Vaccine Safety Technology Support Center, the Microbial Demonstration Support Center, the KTR Healthcare Research Institute, and the WHO Global Bio Campus.
 To this end, the city is accelerating the implementation of projects including the development of core technologies for next-generation anticancer immunotherapy (KRW 30 billion), support for mRNA vaccine demonstrations (KRW 43 billion), construction of a biohealth convergence knowledge industry center (KRW 39.7 billion), establishment of a platform for core technologies for advanced peptide drugs (KRW 44 billion), and a bio scale-up project (KRW 3.8 billion).

[email protected] Hwang Tae-jong Reporter