Samsung Biologics and ImmuneOncia Therapeutics held a signing ceremony for a contract to develop and manufacture five candidate molecules, expanding upon the two companies’ existing CDO partnership first established in 2018.
 
“As we already have a track record of successful collaboration between the two companies, I look forward to seeing what this strategic partnership can achieve in delivering our new products to market faster,” said Yun Jeong Song, chief executive officer, ImmuneOncia.
 
The speedy growth of Samsung Biologics’ CDO business has been attributed to additional business collaborations with returning clients—the company has contracted a total of 55 CDO projects, 29 of which were signed with returning clients.
 
Under this extended deal with ImmuneOncia, Samsung Biologics will provide a full scope of CDO services from cell line development, process development, non-clinical and clinical material manufacturing, to IND submission support for global clinical trials of five candidates from ImmuneOncia’s pipelines.
 
ImmuneOncia’s portfolio comprises diverse immune checkpoint antibodies including IMC-002, a CD47-targeting antibody that is currently undergoing a global phase 1 study based on the successful IND-filing approval obtained through the development and manufacturing partnership with Samsung Biologics.
 
“Our CDO mission is to enable biotech companies to focus on discovery by providing faster and better development and manufacturing services,” said Dr. Tae Han Kim, chief executive officer, Samsung Biologics. “We are extremely proud to expand our partnership with ImmuneOncia and assist in their endeavor to bring new treatments such as IMC-002 for cancer patients.”