REYON Pharmaceutical is endeavoring to begin mass production of five types of “mRNA-producing enzymes” and the development of mRNA vaccines at the Chungju bio plant.

REYON Pharmaceutical (co-CEOs Jeong Soon-ok and Yoo Yong-hwan announced on September 27 that it had signed an MOU with Cellumed (CEO Yoo In-soo) on joint research and development (R&D) on vaccines using mRNA and mass production of five types of “mRNA-producing enzymes.” 

Based on the MOU, REYON Pharmaceutical will mass-produce five types of “mRNA-producing enzymes” developed by Cellumed at the Chungju bio plant and undertake joint R&D on vaccines, cancer vaccines, and therapeutics using mRNA vaccine technology. 

Cellumed is a company that develops enzymes for mRNA vaccine production, which is rare in Korea. In August, it joined a vaccine consortium comprised of the government and multiple bio and pharmaceutical companies in Korea. It has also concluded an agreement with EyeGene to collaborate on R&D and commercialization of an mRNA vaccine for COVID-19. 

REYON Pharmaceutical is also a member of the vaccine consortium and its development and commercialization of gene therapy products involving pDNA and mRNA among others are gaining momentum based on the Chungju bio plant, a large-scale factory for commercial production of gene cell therapy products.

The two companies will each contribute their strengths and work closely to commercialize mRNA vaccines and therapeutics. 

Kim Young-min, Director of the Bio Business Division at REYON Pharmaceutical, said, “Cellumed is a company that develops production enzymes essential for the production of mRNA vaccines and therapeutics, and they expect to produce synergy with our company, which has strength in the development and large-scale production of gene therapy agents. […] We plan on focusing on the production of mRNA-producing enzymes first, and then we will be able to speed up the development of mRNA vaccines and therapeutics.”

“It is meaningless to develop biopharmaceuticals without securing a cGMP production base,” said Jang Ju-woong, Director of Cellumed R&D Center, before adding, “With the MOU signed with REYON Pharmaceutical, the production of mRNA under developed at our company will proceed seamlessly under GMP, and it is also expected to be helpful in the research on mRNA vaccines and therapeutics.”