Source:
https://scmp.com/article/1751096/cha-health-systems-advances-new-era-hospitals
Country Reports

CHA Health Systems advances new era of hospitals

Discovery Reports

Updated: 5:07pm, 23 Mar, 2016

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CHA Bio Complex is the hub for biotechnology and clinical research, the first of its kind in South Korea.

Stem cell therapy will reorient health establishments towards preventive care, a trend that is likely to capture a high-net-worth populace already invested in beauty, health and wellness. 

"The future is in speciality hospitals," says Yoon Kyeong-wook, president and CEO of CHA Healthcare, the global hospital arm of CHA Health Systems (CHS) founded by South Korean medical scientist Dr K.S. Cha in the 1960s.

The CHS network includes speciality hospitals for women's diseases, fertility clinics, research centres for regenerative medicine, a university and several venture companies. The leading privately held hospital conglomerate in South Korea, CHS primarily manages six general hospitals, including the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles since 2004 - the first Korean acquisition of a general hospital in the United States. 

CHA Healthcare is advancing a global model wherein medical services are preventative and customisable through stem cell technologies. CHAUM Life Center, CHS's premier anti-ageing centre in Seoul, serves as the model for this vision. 

CHAUM provides a mixture of Western, oriental and alternative medicine. Aside from personalised medical check-up and treatment, it offers stem cell banking for individual bio-insurance and to advance solutions against killer diseases such as leukaemia and cancer. 

"We have one of the largest stem cell pipelines in Asia today, so we are targeting incurable diseases," Yoon says. 

CHA Biotech, which encompasses CHS's venture companies and is focused on developing the group's vast stem cell pipeline, expects to reach commercial stage for its retinal pigment epithelial and placenta stem cell therapies - treatments for blindness and peripheral arterial disease, respectively - within five years. It has continuing partnerships with US-based Ocata Therapeutics and Israel's Pluristem Therapeutics to advance regenerative therapies.

Through a strategic partnership, CHA Healthcare aims to build a network of speciality hospitals similar to CHAUM in China. The prospect for such a partnership could expand globally as CHS pursues its medical business model.