“ENCell is working to accelerate viral vector CMO business via a collaboration with Polyplus.”, said Dr. Jong Wook Chang, CEO of ENCell. “We are glad to have a partnership with Polyplus for their global network, stable supply chain, and in-depth upstream process support capability. Together, we will optimize and advance our manufacturing technology.”

ENCell started as a spin-off company of Samsung Medical Center in 2018 and is currently leading cell and gene therapy CMO market in Korea. With a recent establishment of the 3rd GMP plant, they can manufacture clinical grade viral vectors such as LV and AAV. Based on their manufacturing infrastructure, ENCell can provide one-stop service for manufacturing gene-modified cell products such as CAR-T or CAR-NK including the viral vector production. ENCell is currently running a CAR-T manufacturing project for a clinical trial in their 2nd GMP plant, and AAV manufacturing project in the 3rd GMP plant.

“We are thrilled to work with the innovative ENCell team towards faster, more efficient and cost-effective medicines,” Thomas LeJolly, APAC Director at Polyplus commented. “As the industry’s needs change, we are deepening our upstream process economics solutions with more product and support options across sectors. Polyplus legacy intracellular nucleic acid transfection solutions are now complemented by plasmid vector engineering services to help improve cell and gene therapy viral vector productivity and quality.”

The MOU agreement with Polyplus was signed in late August and the collaboration projects are underway at time of press.