Samsung Bioepis is stepping up its development of antibody drugs using artificial intelligence (AI). Together with Proteina and a Seoul National University research team, the company plans to discover candidate compounds by 2027 and, if results are confirmed, advance them through clinical development and commercialization.
Samsung Bioepis said on the 9th that it had signed an "improved antibody joint technology development and technology licensing option agreement" with Proteina. The agreement is a follow-up contract to a Ministry of Health and Welfare-led national project, "Development and Demonstration of Antibody Biopharmaceuticals Using AI Models," which the two companies have been conducting since October last year with a research team led by Professor Baek Min-kyung of Seoul National University's School of Biological Sciences.
According to a disclosure made by Samsung Epis Holdings that day, the agreement includes an upfront payment for the transfer of the compound, development and sales milestones, and sales-linked royalties. The total contract size and detailed terms were not disclosed under a confidentiality clause. However, the company said the contract amount was more than the smaller of 2.5% of Samsung Bioepis's consolidated equity (2.2303 trillion won) or revenue (1.6719 trillion won) for last year. The size of this contract is estimated to be at least 41.8 billion won.
Under the agreement, Proteina will discover and validate antibody drug candidate compounds using its own platform, while Samsung Bioepis will lead the preclinical research needed to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application. If Samsung Bioepis exercises its license option going forward, it will secure the rights to the candidate compound and advance clinical development and commercialization.
Proteina holds technology that can simultaneously analyze more than 10,000 antibody sequences per week using its "SPID" platform, which analyzes single-molecule protein interactions. The technology can shorten the antibody validation period, which previously took several months, to about two weeks, which is expected to accelerate candidate compound discovery.
"We will expand the process optimization capabilities accumulated through biosimilar development into the field of antibody drug development," said Kim Kyung-ah, president of Samsung Bioepis. "We will work closely with our partner to faithfully carry out the national project."
