[Edaily Reporter Minji Son ] During the third week of October (October 12–16), the domestic pharmaceutical and biotech industry saw SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS(207940)’s proposed acquisition of Polypeptide Group—valued at approximately 2.7 trillion won—clear the tender offer hurdle. During the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee’s audit of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the first domestic case of suspected vision impairment following administration of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) obesity treatments, such as Wegovy, was confirmed.

SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS Meets Conditions for Polypeptide Tender Offer

On the 13th

,

SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS announced preliminary interim results of its

tender offer

for the Swiss contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) Polypeptide Group, stating that 87.88% of the target shares had been tendered. This significantly exceeds the minimum threshold of 66.7% required for the transaction to be finalized.

The tender offer was conducted through Samsung Peptide, a subsidiary and special-purpose company (SPC) established for the acquisition. SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS offered 44.31 Swiss francs per share for 33,016,411 issued shares of Polypeptide, excluding treasury shares.

A total of 29,014,418 shares were tendered during the tender offer, which ran from the 15th of last month to the 12th of this month. All 18,375,000 shares held by Draupnir Holdings, PolyPeptide’s former largest shareholder, were also tendered. This represents 87.59% of the total issued shares.

As a significant number of Polypeptide shareholders accepted SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS’ acquisition offer, the likelihood of the deal falling through has greatly diminished. SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS plans to accept additional tender offers from the 19th to the 30th and then finalize the transaction after obtaining merger approvals from relevant authorities in Europe, India, Australia, Brazil, and other regions. The company plans to complete the acquisition process by the end of November, following regulatory approval.

Previously, SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS signed an acquisition agreement with the Polypeptide Group in July. The acquisition price is approximately 2.7 trillion won, making it the largest merger and acquisition (M&A) deal in South Korea’s pharmaceutical and biotech industry.

This also marks the first large-scale overseas acquisition undertaken by SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS to expand its CDMO business—which had previously focused on large antibody drugs—into the field of peptide drugs.

Peptides are substances composed of linked amino acids; they have a smaller structure than proteins and can act selectively on specific targets. They are also used as key active ingredients in GLP-1-based obesity and diabetes treatments, a market that has experienced rapid growth recently.

Polypeptide operates production facilities in Switzerland, as well as in the United States, France, Belgium, Sweden, and India. Once the acquisition is complete, SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS will be able to provide services ranging from the development to the production of peptide active pharmaceutical ingredients, thereby securing a share of the growing demand in the obesity treatment market.

First Suspected Case of Vision Loss Following GLP-1 Administration Confirmed in Korea

Safety concerns regarding obesity treatments also emerged as a major issue this week. Oh Yu-kyung, Commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), revealed during the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee hearing on the MFDS on the 13th that, as of December 2024, one case in South Korea had been reported where non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) was suspected to have occurred following administration of a GLP-1 class treatment.

NAION is a condition characterized by sudden vision loss due to reduced blood flow to the optic nerve. Symptoms may include painless blurring of vision or partial loss of vision in one eye, and there is a possibility that vision may not be fully restored.

In the United States, patients claiming to have lost their vision after using obesity treatments are filing lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies. Last June, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reviewed the association between medications containing semaglutide and NAION and determined it to be an adverse reaction that may occur very rarely.

Consequently, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) in South Korea has begun the process of incorporating this information into the precautions for the use of semaglutide-containing medications.

Commissioner Oh explained, “The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety also approved this as a side effect on the 7th,” adding, “It is now classified as a ‘side effect that may occur rarely.’”

The rapid increase in the use of GLP-1 agonists is heightening the need for safety management. The volume of anti-obesity drugs distributed in Korea has increased nearly 20-fold, from approximately 160,000 units in October 2024 to 3.12 million units in July of this year.