[San Diego (U.S.) = E-Daily Reporter SONG YOUNG-DOO ] SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS(207940)is expanding the competitiveness of its Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) business from production capacity (CAPA) to platform technology. This is the so-called “Early Lock-in Strategy,” which involves providing its own platform to customers starting from the early research stage of discovering new drug candidates to secure them as long-term clients. The company plans to go beyond simple production and grow its platform licensing business to secure new revenue streams.

Jeong Hyung-nam, Head of the Bio Research Institute (Executive Vice President) at SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS, said during a press briefing held on the 25th (local time) at the Bio International Convention (Bio USA) in San Diego, U.S., “The role of the Bio Research Institute is not to create new drugs, but to secure core technologies that support the CDMO business and provide platforms.” He added, “We will expand our business and secure future growth engines through platform licensing-out.”

First Announcement of Platform Business... Samsung Bio’s Future Growth Engine

Established in 2022, the SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS Research Institute, with a core team of approximately 100 researchers, is developing next-generation technologies such as production platforms, antibody platforms, ADCs, BBB shuttles, AAVs, mRNA, and continuous processes.

Vice President Jeong explained, “As the research institute of a CDMO company, our most important role is to develop core technologies that enhance productivity,” adding, “At the same time, the institute’s mission is to proactively secure technologies that will transform the market in the future and provide them to our customers.”

The key is to bring customers into the Samsung Bio ecosystem from the early stages of development. For example, when a client is developing a bispecific antibody, they use Samsung Bio’s S-DUAL platform to design candidate molecules, and the process is structured to seamlessly transition from there to process development (CDO), clinical manufacturing, and commercial production.

Vice President Jeong also emphasized that the platform business is fundamentally different from new drug development. “We do not develop new drugs ourselves; rather, we provide platform technologies to clients seeking to develop new drugs,” he said. “Clients integrate their targets into the platform to proceed with development, and we license out the technologies that support that development.”

Taking the BBB (blood-brain barrier) shuttle platform developed by SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS as an example, if a treatment for a specific brain disease cannot cross the BBB, the SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS BBB platform is integrated to enhance its delivery efficiency to the brain. The explanation is that the company sells the platform itself, rather than commercializing new drugs directly.

In fact, within the global CDMO industry, a strategy is gaining traction that goes beyond simple contract manufacturing to securing proprietary platform technologies and participating in clients’ drug development from the earliest stages. WuXi Biologics supports clients’ candidate drug development based on proprietary platforms such as WuXiBody and WuXia, while Lonza has strengthened its CDMO competitiveness through manufacturing platforms like Cocoon. SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS, too, appears to be accelerating the expansion of its business scope from a production-centric CDMO to a platform-based CDMO, spearheaded by platforms such as S-DUAL, S-CHOice, and the BBB shuttle.

At the Forefront of the ‘S-DUAL’ Bispecific Antibody Platform Business

The S-DUAL bispecific antibody platform is currently regarded as the most advanced. S-DUAL employs a proprietary structure that ensures the antibody’s heavy and light chains bind only in the desired configuration, thereby reducing impurity generation—the biggest challenge with existing bispecific antibodies.

Vice President Jeong explained, “While conventional methods can result in a mixture of various forms, S-DUAL enables the production of only the desired form at high purity,” adding, “It also exhibits low immunogenicity, and we have confirmed its excellent efficacy in animal studies.” The company is currently conducting primate safety tests and mechanism-of-action validation, and plans to pursue a license-out after securing additional data.

In the ADC field, the company is developing next-generation bispecific ADCs (bsADCs) by combining its proprietary S-DUAL platform with linker-payload technology jointly developed with Aimed Bio Inc. He stated, “We have secured a linker-payload with a higher bystander effect and lower drug resistance compared to existing ADCs,” adding, “We are developing the technology to reduce toxicity while enhancing efficacy.”

The BBB shuttle project also follows a strategy of identifying new targets and epitopes to avoid the toxicity issues associated with existing transferrin receptor-based platforms. The company plans to expand this into a universal platform applicable to various therapeutics, including not only antibodies but also oligonucleotides and small-molecule compounds.

Samsung Bio is also proactively securing new modalities such as AAV and mRNA. In particular, the company aims to provide customized services by internalizing its own production platforms, vector technologies, and delivery system (LNP) technologies.

This strategy is also linked to investments from the Samsung Life Sciences Fund (LS Fund). The research institute identifies and invests in next-generation technologies—such as ADCs, gene therapies, RNA, and AI—at an early stage, and internalizes them when necessary to enhance its CDMO competitiveness.

Vice President Jeong emphasized, “The Bio Research Institute plays three major roles: first, supporting core CDMO technologies; second, creating new business opportunities through platform license-outs; and third, proactively identifying and internalizing promising future technologies.” In particular, he stated, “Ultimately, our goal is to drive the business expansion and future growth of SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS based on our technological competitiveness.”