Cha Biotech’s US subsidiary Matica Biotechnology has opened a new cell and gene therapy production facility to boost its contract development and manufacturing organization business on the global stage, officials said Wednesday.

With a 500-liter bioreactor, the new CDMO facility, based in College Station, Texas, will produce various types of viral vectors that are the essential basis of cell and gene therapy, according to Cha Biotech.

The company said that Matica Biotechnology is currently working with international pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier Sartorius to develop advanced viral vector manufacturing technologies for mass production of viral vectors. Cha Biotech’s US subsidiary has also partnered with nearby Texas A&M University to carry out joint research on plasmid DNA and protein to speed up the technological research and development as well as commercial manufacturing, it added.

Matica Biotechnology’s research personnel consist of local experts who have experience in some 250 vector production projects for over 10 different types of viral vectors at other CDMO companies such as Lonza, Fujifilm Diosynth and Charles River, according to Cha Biotech.

“Cell and gene therapy is a treatment that is expected to grow larger than the existing chemical and protein-based drugs by applying innovative technologies,” said Song Yun-jeong, CEO of Matica Biotechnology.

“We will internalize world-class technologies and bring in the research and development experience of cell therapy that our parent company Cha Biotech has accumulated for 20 years to lead the global cell and gene therapy CDMO market,” she added.