Samsung Biologics Inks CDO Contract with PharmAbcine to Develop Novel Drug

Korean biotech company, PharmAbcine had just planned to reveal interim data of the phase 1b trial that evaluated their innovative anti-VEFG drug, olinvacimab in combination with Merck’s keytruda for the treatment of recurrent glioblastoma. In order to boost the development and production of its novel drug PMC-402’s pipeline, it has now signed a new CDO contract with Samsung Biologics.

PharmAbcine is a KOSDAQ-listed company that specializes in developing antibody therapies for cancers and neovascular diseases. With its solid immuno-oncology pipeline and proprietary technology of antibody-drug development, PharmAbcine now owns three monoclonal antibodies including an EGFR targeting CAR-T/NK, and other biosimilar drugs. Among them, its anti-VEGFR-2 drug, olinvacimab, alleviated brain edema and suppressed tumor growth when administrated alone in patients with recurrent glioblastoma. Following this positive data from early trials conducted in Australia, a Phase II is now being performed in the US and Australia on patients with refractory glioblastoma who failed to respond to Avigan. Until now, the company had to rely on foreign groups for the production of its drugs including olinvacimab.

Now that Samsung Biologics has expanded its industrial value chain and possesses a high-quality CDO service, the alliance of Samsung Biologics and PharmAbcine is no-doubt a win-win combination for the Korean medical industry. The drug candidate PMC-402 is a substance that functions like angiopoietin by stabilizing the blood vessels. It helps to stabilize the leaky porosity of new blood vessels that is proliferated in various tumor tissues and senile macular degeneration. The anti-cancer effect has been demonstrated in preliminary studies that evaluated PMC-402 either alone or in combination with other immuno-cancer drugs.

PharmAbcine also plans to expand use of the substance to improve the condition of patients with ophthalmic diseases caused by abnormal blood vessels, such as diabetic retinopathy and senile macular degeneration. The safety studies would be carried out this year, and an augmented phase I trial is planned for 2021. As per the contract, Samsung Biologics will support the cell line development, substance processing, clinical sample production, and clinical trial plan submission.

Kim Tae-Han, President of Samsung Biologics stressed that the company was dedicated to offering competitive CRO (Contract Research Organization), CDO (Contract Development Organization), and CMO (Contract Manufacture Organization) services to partners domestically and globally. Being supportive of bio-ventures around the world, Samsung wishes to accelerate the development of new treatments by backing up researches with its technologies.

Related article: Weekly Cover: Expansion of Samsung Biologics Projects into U.S. and Europe

References

1. https://www.samsungbiologics.com/front/kr/mediaCenter/pressReleasesView.do?boardSeq=577
2. http://www.pharmabcine.com/sub02/sub02.php

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