Samsung Biologics forges Alzheimer's drug development partnership with Taiwan firm

By Baek Byung-yeul

Samsung Biologics said Tuesday that it is aiming to expand its presence in China and Taiwan after forging a partnership with Taiwan's APRINOIA Therapeutics, which has been working on developing an Alzheimer's drug.

The Samsung affiliate said it signed a contract development organization (CDO) deal with the Taiwanese biotech firm to jointly develop an anti-tau monoclonal antibody drug candidate, designed to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

CDO is an end-to-end biopharmaceutical project running drug development procedures from laboratory research to clinical trials.

“Samsung Biologics has reconfirmed its position as a global leading contract manufacturing organization (CMO), contract development organization (CDO) and contract research organization (CRO) partner,” the company said in a statement.

“Samsung has developed a partnership with APRINOIA, which covers the full scope of the candidate product's development phase from cell line development, process development, current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) manufacturing to investigational new drug (IND) filing support.”

Samsung Biologics has recently been injecting more resources to promote its CDO business, which is expected to grow 15 percent annually over the next few years.

With the demand for new biopharmaceuticals remaining solid, biotech companies have been increasingly outsourcing their product development and manufacturing to companies running contact-based businesses such as Samsung Biologics.

The company has carried out 48 CDO projects, helping venture companies in the biotechnology sector conduct drug development.

Headquartered in Taipei, APRINOIA is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics and PET imaging diagnostics for tau-protein-associated neurodegenerative diseases. The tau protein is known as one of the inducers of Alzheimer's disease.

“We're very excited about this opportunity to collaborate with APRINOIA, a biotech company with a distinguished global presence amidst the fast-growing bio landscape in Asia," Samsung Biologics CEO Kim Tae-han said in a statement.

“We look forward to demonstrating Samsung Biologics' unique capabilities, scale and integrated CDO and CMO services to our valued client in their pursuit of an Alzheimer's therapy,” he added.

The new partnership will help the firm boost its profile in mainland China as well as Taiwan. The Samsung affiliate is in talks with more than 20 biotech companies for additional business agreements.

Established in 2011, Samsung Biologics has grown into one of the leading contract-based drug making companies. It also plans to open a research and development center for its CDO business in San Francisco in April and will seek further expansion in the United States and Europe.