Focus on Collaboration | Hillgene Biopharma Attends China-Korea Business Exchange to Explore New Opportunities in the Cell Therapy Industry

On April 21, a South Korean business delegation visited Wuzhong District, where the Wuzhong District People’s Government and the Korea Bio-Pharma Association jointly organized a China-South Korea Business Exchange. Tang Song, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Investment Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce; Lee Seung-kyu, Vice President of the Korea Biopharmaceutical Association; and Wan Li, Secretary of the District Party Committee and District Governor, attended the event. Hillgene Biopharma, as one of the representative pharmaceutical companies in Wuzhong District, was invited to participate.

Building a New Hub for the Biopharmaceutical Industry Around Lake Taihu

In recent years, Wuzhong District has steadfastly implemented its development strategy of “Strengthening the District Through Industry and Leading Through Innovation,” focusing its efforts on building a “3+2+N” modern industrial system centered on robotics and artificial intelligence, biopharmaceuticals and healthcare, and new energy and smart vehicles. Among these, the biopharmaceuticals and healthcare sector has reached a scale of nearly 50 billion yuan, with output value from enterprises above designated size nearing 30 billion yuan.

The successful hosting of the 2025 Korean Enterprises China Tour Wuzhong Station event has fostered deep partnerships between 12 Korean biopharmaceutical companies and enterprises in Wuzhong District, resulting in the completion of multiple project deliveries. Companies such as Dongrui Pharmaceutical and WuXi AppTec have established business cooperation mechanisms with their Korean partners, further solidifying their collaborative channels. This larger-scale and broader-scope visit will further promote higher-level, deeper industrial synergy and mutual benefit between the two regions in key sectors such as biopharmaceuticals, cross-border e-commerce, and smart manufacturing.

Bilateral Collaboration: Building a New Bridge for Industrial Cooperation Between China and South Korea

In his opening remarks at the conference, Tang Song, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Investment Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce, noted that China and South Korea are important economic and trade partners to one another. Since the beginning of this year, cooperation between the two sides has shown signs of accelerating recovery and a comprehensive positive trend. As a national-level economic and technological development zone, the Wuzhong Economic and Technological Development Zone consistently ranks among the top in the country in terms of comprehensive strength and serves as a key window for Suzhou’s opening to the outside world. The “Wuzhong Pharmaceutical Port” enjoys a far-reaching reputation, and its industrial ecosystem is highly compatible with and complementary to South Korean enterprises. The Investment Promotion Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce will continue to deepen the China-South Korea industrial alignment mechanism, help build a model platform for China-South Korea industrial cooperation, and promote the establishment and deep-rooted development of more high-quality South Korean projects in Wuzhong.

Lee Seung-kyu, Vice President of the Korea Biopharmaceutical Association, stated at the meeting that after more than 40 years of steady development, the association has become the largest industry organization in South Korea’s biotechnology sector. In addition to leading member companies such as Samsung BioLogics, Daesang Group, SK Biopharmaceuticals, GS Caltex, and CJ Group, it encompasses over a thousand South Korean biotech enterprises, playing a vital role in the development of the country’s biopharmaceutical industry, policy coordination, international cooperation, and innovation commercialization. Wuzhong boasts a solid foundation in the biopharmaceutical industry, a concentration of innovative resources, and broad prospects for development. We look forward to using this exchange as an opportunity to engage in comprehensive, in-depth, and regular cooperation with Wuzhong in areas such as technological R&D, commercialization of research outcomes, project implementation, and industrial synergy, and to jointly establish a platform for Sino-Korean biopharmaceutical industry cooperation.

Hillgene Biopharma: Unlocking New Possibilities for Global Collaboration in Cell Therapy with Genetically Modified K562 Feeder Cells

Invited to attend this exchange event, Hillgene Biopharma showcased its forward-looking technological strategy in the CDMO sector and the development of K562 feeder cells under GMP conditions, as well as its end-to-end industrialization capabilities. The company engaged in in-depth discussions with representatives from Korean enterprises at the event.

At the event, Hillgene highlighted the core advantages of its GMP-compliant, Genetically Modified K562 Feeder Cell. As one of Hillgene’s flagship products, the K562 product garnered significant attention from Korean corporate representatives. Through the stable expression of co-stimulatory signaling molecules such as membrane-bound IL-21, 4-1BBL, and CD86, this product can achieve over 5,000-fold expansion of NK cells within 14 days, with the expanded NK cells exhibiting a purity and viability of over 90% and tumor killing efficiency exceeding 50%. Additionally, the product’s RCB source cells have obtained commercial licensing from ATCC, and a three-tier cell bank system (PCB/MCB/WCB) has been established to ensure full traceability throughout the process. The cells have undergone 100 Gy irradiation to ensure they are completely negative for tumorigenicity and oncogenicity risks. The product’s release standards align with the pharmacopoeias of China, the U.S., and Europe. It has completed FDA DMF filing and can provide clients with a full set of pharmaceutical regulatory documentation. These forward-looking, high-standard arrangements provide robust support for the commercial production of cell therapy products on a global scale.

Promoting “Chinese Cell Therapies” onto the Global Stage

This Sino-Korean corporate cooperation and exchange event is not only a significant initiative by Wuzhong District to deepen its opening-up and connect with global innovation resources, but also provides a valuable platform for “specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative” enterprises such as Hillgene Biopharma to showcase their technological capabilities and access international markets. As the global cell therapy industry accelerates toward compliance, standardization, and industrialization, Hillgene Biopharma will continue to prioritize technology, continuously refine its end-to-end service system, explore collaboration opportunities from a broader international perspective, and help more Chinese cell therapies reach the global market.

In the future, Hillgene looks forward to establishing connections with more international partners to create shared value through openness and exchange.