Eye on Pharma: Samsung Bioepis to Partner With C-Bridge on Biosimilars

Biosimilar developer Samsung Bioepis, a partnership between Samsung BioLogics and Biogen, has announced a new licensing agreement with the private equity firm C-Bridge Capital that will allow the drug maker to expand its reach into mainland China.

Under the terms of the agreement, C-Bridge will establish a new company, AffaMed Therapeutics, that will collaborate with Samsung Bioepis on clinical development, regulatory activities, and commercialization of biosimilar products in China. In return, Samsung Bioepis will receive an upfront payment and royalties on sales.

The agreement covers multiple biosimilar candidates in Samsung Bioepis’ pipeline, including a ranibizumab biosimilar referencing Lucentis, an eculizumab biosimilar referencing Soliris, and a trastuzumab biosimilar referencing Herceptin. While the first 2 products have yet to be approved, Samsung’s trastuzumab biosimilar, Ontruzant, has been approved by the FDA, the European Medicines Agency, and other regulatory bodies.

“We want to play an important role in widening access to high-quality healthcare for patients throughout China,” Christopher Hansung Ko, president and chief executive officer of Samsung Bioepis, said in a statement announcing the deal. “C-Bridge is the right partner for this mission as evidenced in its exceptional track record of successfully turning portfolio companies like AffaMed Therapeutics into leading biopharmaceutical companies in China and beyond.”

C-Bridge, which focuses on late-stage investment opportunities in the healthcare field, holds a portfolio of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, and other healthcare services, and its AffaMed division will focus exclusively on identifying and licensing late-stage candidates for commercialization in Asia and elsewhere.

News of the Samsung Bioepis—C-Bridge collaboration comes shortly on the heels of another partnership forged with mainland China in mind. In January 2019, Samsung announced that it had partnered with 3SBio to develop and commercialize several biosimilars in China, with a bevacizumab product, which is currently in a phase 3 clinical trial in patients with metastatic or recurrent non-squamous non—small cell lung cancer, included in the deal.

As in the agreement with C-Bridge, the 3SBio deal will see involve a collaboration on clinical development, regulatory activities, and commercialization, and involves and upfront payment to Samsung Bioepis. It also includes payments associated with clinical and regulatory milestones.

In addition to the products covered by these deals, Samsung Bioepis’ other biosimilar assets include widely approved biosimilars of etanercept (Brenzys), infliximab (Renflexis, Flixabi), and adalimumab (Imraldi).