SEOUL-- February 25, 2022 -- GI Innovation, an innovative new drug development company, announced that it signed a biomarker joint research MoU with CellKey, a Glycoprotein biomarker development company, to develop next-generation innovative immuno-oncology on 23th.

The MoU ceremony was held in GI Innovation’s head office and Myoung-Ho Jang Chairman, Na-Ri Yun VP, Ji-Soo Kim director of GI Innovation and Nam-Yong Lee CEO, Kwang-Hoe Kim Head of Bio-R&D center, Sang-Yong Lee COO of CellKey have attended.

Under the MoU, GI Innovation will progress joint biomarker research to develop next-generation protein and antibody drugs using GI Innovation’s bispecific fusion protein development platform GI-SMART™ and CellKey’s AI-powered biomarker discovery platform SpAC9 Pipeline. In addition, both companies will progress jointly published thesis, academic publication, research business, etc.

A biomarker is a biological index that can sense symptoms in the body using protein, DNA, RNA, metabolite, etc. The more the multiple panels are constructed the more possibilities are to raise accuracy and diagnose early cancer.

In particular, AI and cloud-powered SpAC9 Pipeline of CellKey enables the discovery of the most optimal multi-biomarker panels, consisting of glycoproteins and proteins, up to 100 times faster than with conventional analysis methods.

With this strategic partnership, both companies expect that GI Innovation will predict drug responses on GI Innovation’s immuno-oncology and reinforce the reliability and efficacy of treatment through the biomarker discovery that can monitor treatment effects. CellKey also expects to improve upon the effects of personalized treatments and cancer diagnostic biomarker business.

Myoung-Ho Jang, Chairman of GI Innovation said, “By collaborating with Cellkey that has SpAC9 Pipeline, an innovative proteomics biomarker development platform, the opportunities for successful new drug development are increased. We will do our best to choose prime target patients in the clinical trial stage through the early discovery of biomarker.”

Nam-Yong Lee, CEO of CellKey said, “I believe we can innovatively improve the effectiveness of cancer treatments through this joint research with GI Innovation who develops immuno-oncology drugs with world-class R&D capabilities. This collaboration can create various business opportunities in the market of antibody drugs and precision medicine.”