The Animal Cell Demonstration Support Center in Andong. [North Gyeongsang Province]
The Animal Cell Demonstration Support Center in Andong. [North Gyeongsang Province]

North Gyeongsang Province announced Wednesday that the Animal Cell Demonstration Support Center in Andong has been selected for a national project led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to strategically develop animal cell-based vaccine public contract development and manufacturing organizations, or CDMOs, and support biotech production.

The project is a nationally competitive initiative aimed at strengthening the product development and manufacturing capabilities of domestic biotech companies.

A total of 12.9 billion won ($8.45 million) will be invested over five years from 2026 to 2030.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, North Gyeongsang Province, Andong city and the Animal Cell Demonstration Support Center will carry out the project jointly.

Centered on the Andong biotech industrial complex, the initiative will establish a public CDMO infrastructure for biopharmaceutical production, with a focus on supporting biotech companies that have strong technology but lack the resources to build their own manufacturing facilities.

A public CDMO is a publicly operated production support system that assists biotech companies without their own manufacturing facilities in developing and producing pharmaceuticals. It provides tailored support covering the full range of non-clinical, clinical and commercial biopharmaceuticals — from process development and prototype production to quality control.

The Animal Cell Demonstration Support Center in Andong is a public CDMO institution equipped with some of the country's highest-grade good manufacturing practice facilities for animal cell-based vaccine and biopharmaceutical production.

Drawing on its accumulated demonstration expertise, the center will provide one-stop support to promising domestic biotech companies across the entire process — from product design and process development to prototype production.

North Gyeongsang Province expects the project to help domestic biotech companies secure a stable production base in response to the expanding global biopharmaceutical market, tightening US pharmaceutical tariffs and the reshaping of global supply chains.

"This selection is a national recognition of North Gyeongsang Province's vaccine and biotech industrial foundation and its animal cell-based manufacturing capabilities," said Yang Geum-hee, the province's vice governor for economic affairs. "We will actively support domestic biotech companies in commercializing their technologies and entering global markets through the public CDMO, and develop North Gyeongsang Province into a key hub for South Korea's biopharmaceutical industry."


kbj7653@heraldcorp.com