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

20200203-0209

Expansion of Samsung Biologics Projects into U.S. and Europe

For fiscal 2019, Samsung Biologics reported a high figure, recording sales growth of 30.9 percent at 701.6 billion won, and operating profit growth of 64.6 percent at 91.7 billion won the previous year. The strong performance was driven by increased operations at all three manufacturing plants.

Samsung Biologics has extended its service offerings beyond contract manufacturing organization (CMO) since its launch in 2011 with state-of-the-art production, manufacturing, and laboratory testing services. The company has continued positive momentum and recently further reinforced its manufacturing capabilities in small scale manufacturing and aseptic filling.

In addition to studying growing production capacity in Korea, Samsung Biologics officially announced its plans to open the company’s first CDO (Contract Development Organization) R&D laboratory abroad in San Francisco this year at a recent global conference to extend its market reach and boost consumer proximity.

Samsung Biologics is exploring and planning on further investment options both at home and globally. The Company is evaluating more regional expansion plans in other regions in the U.S, Asian countries, to bring even greater synergy through cooperation with the Songdo headquarters manufacturing site.

About Samsung Biologics

Samsung Biologics is a full service provider of cGMP contract manufacturing for the global biopharmaceutical industry. The Samsung subsidiary started out in April 2011 as a contract manufacturing organization, bridged out to contract development business in 2018 and is quickly expanding. Their facilities are custom designed for monoclonal and recombinant production.

Latest news on Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) and Medical Information

As the rapidly evolving situation and knowledge becomes accessible, ongoing investigation is underway. More 2019-nCoV updates are on GeneOnline.

The novel coronavirus’s global death toll has surpassed the number of fatalities from the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak. When SARS swept through the world, it infected more than 8,000 people and killed 774. Both the outbreaks of SARS and Wuhan occurred in China — and it is suspected that both arose from the wild animal markets.

FDA Issued Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the First 2019 Novel Coronavirus Diagnostic, and is leveraging the vast breadth of the FDA’s expertise and working closely with its domestic and international public health authorities to minimize the urgent public health situation.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is putting $100 million toward coronavirus relief to accelerate the development of vaccines, $60 million will be allocated. Up to $20 million will go to multilateral organizations such as the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

AstraZenca to Plant Trees and Spend $200 Million in Local Fabrication

Planting Trees

The impact of the changing climate caused by recent Australian bushfires has deeply affected normal human life.

AstraZeneca is working alongside its global partner One Tree Planted, a non-profit reforestation organizations, and other local organization to begin the reforestation program in Australia. The Company has planned to plant 50 million trees worldwide over the next five years, in order to eliminate carbon emissions from our operations and improve human health.

$200 million investment in local manufacturing operations
On Feb. 7th, AstraZeneca committed $200m to the company’s manufacturing facility in North Ryde, Sydney. The investment follows $100 m announced in 2017 and will aim to increase the production capabilities of the plant, generate 250 jobs and raise exports to $4.4bn over the next four years.

AstraZeneca has had a presence in Australia for more than 60 years and today the company has grown into one of the country’s biggest pharmaceutical producers and exporters.

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialization of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of diseases in three therapy areas – Oncology, Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism (CVRM) and Respiratory.

Chugai Supports a Clinical Study Focused on Patient-requested Therapy in Japan

On February 7, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. announced that the company had entered into a patient-requested therapy program arrangement with the National Cancer Center Japan to support a clinical study initiated by the investigator.

Chugai will provide multiple drugs to enable a clinical trial focused on the program to explore potential treatment approaches for patients undergoing a comprehensive genomic profiling study.

The goal of this research is to examine possible therapeutic possibilities for patients with genetic alterations found using comprehensive genomic profiling tests.

Chugai will provide medications in the study in order to support the goals of the clinical study.

The recent insurance coverage provided by the next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology for genomic analysis enables us to choose personalized cancer treatment for each patient.

Nonetheless, due to lack of approved drugs some patients are unable to undergo molecularly matched therapy even when gene alteration has been detected.

About Chugai Pharmaceutical

Chugai Pharmaceutical is one of Japan’s leading research-based pharmaceutical companies and is an important member of the Roche Group. Chugai engages actively in oncological drug research and development.

Curis and Aurigene Announce Amendment of Collaboration for the Development and Commercialization of CA-170

Curis, Inc., a U.S. biotechnology company focused on the developing innovative therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, announced on February 6th that the Company has entered into an amendment of its collaboration, license and option agreement with Aurigene Discovery Technologies, Ltd., a specialized biotech company in India.

Under the terms of the amended agreement, Aurigene will fund and conduct a Phase 2b/3 randomized study evaluating CA-170, a dual inhibitor of VISTA and PDL1, in combination with chemoradiation, in approximately 240 patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (nsNSCLC). Aurigene, in effect, was given the rights to produce and sell CA-170 in Asia, in addition to its existing rights in India and Russia, based on the terms of the original agreement. Curis retains U.S., E.U., and rest of world rights to CA-170, and is entitled to receive royalty payments on potential future sales of CA-170 in Asia. Curis holds rights to CA-170 from the U.S., E.U., and the rest of the world, and is entitled to receive royalty payments on potential future sales to Asia.

About Curis

Massachusetts, Boston based Curis is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of first-in-class and innovative therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. There are currently three drug candidates in production at the company.

About Aurigene

Aurigene is a specialized biotech company committed to oncology and inflammatory diseases. Aurigene has pioneered a unique model of drug discovery collaborations with large-pharmaceutical, mid-pharmaceutical companies and biotechs. In addition, the Company has developed a pipeline of assets for licensing in oncology and inflammatory diseases based in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kuala Lumpur.

References

1. https://www.samsungbiologics.com/front/en/mediaCenter/mediaFocusView.do?boardSeq=526
2. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-significant-step-coronavirus-response-efforts-issues-emergency-use-authorization-first
3. https://www.astrazeneca.com.au/media/press-releases/2020/astrazeneca-to-plant-25-million-trees-in-australia-and-invest-200m-in-local-manufacturing.html
4. https://www.australianmanufacturing.com.au/104264/astrazenca-to-invest-200m-in-local-manufacturing
5. https://www.chugai-pharm.co.jp/english/news/detail/20200207150001_693.html
6. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/curis-aurigene-announce-amendment-collaboration-133000219.html

Author

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