Choi Seok-woo, an executive vice president at ST Pharm, said demand for oligonucleotides, a key raw material for ribonucleic acid (RNA) therapeutics, will increase as the indications for such treatments expand from infectious and rare diseases to chronic conditions. As a result, he forecast that ST Pharm's contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business opportunities will also grow.
Meeting with reporters at the BIO USA event Tuesday, Choi said, "Based on its manufacturing capabilities, ST Pharm will become the CDMO partner that next-generation RNA therapeutics developers need."
ST Pharm is a CDMO company that produces oligonucleotides, the core raw material for RNA therapeutics. After building a dedicated oligo production facility at its Banwol campus in 2018, the company expanded its second oligo building last year. Backed by expanded production capacity, first-quarter revenue reached 67 billion won and operating profit reached 11.5 billion won, up 27.7% and 1,024.6% from a year earlier, respectively.
Choi expected demand for oligos to rise as RNA therapeutics' mechanisms of action and indications expand. He particularly cited antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates (AOC), a new modality, as a major growth opportunity. Unlike antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), which load a drug (payload) onto an antibody, AOC is a conjugate that binds oligonucleic acid to an antibody. It is regarded as a technology that can broaden the application range of existing therapeutics by combining the targeted delivery capability of antibodies with the gene expression regulation function of RNA therapeutics. "ST Pharm has the capabilities for oligo production, analysis and quality control," Choi said. "We will establish ourselves as a key manufacturing partner that can respond to AOC development demand."
He also forecast that in vivo chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapeutics and CRISPR gene-editing therapeutics will present opportunities for ST Pharm. "At BIO USA, we will promote the company's competitiveness to global clients and expand practical partnership opportunities," Choi stressed.
Meanwhile, BIO USA is the world's largest pharmaceutical and biotech industry event, organized by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. This year's event runs from June 22 to 25 in San Diego, with more than 20,000 industry officials from over 70 countries expected to attend.
