Partnering Up with Chinese Venture Fund
Samsung Bioepis has forged a partnership with a Chinese company to speed up its entry into the Chinese biopharmaceutical market.
Samsung Bioepis announced on Jan. 11 that it has signed a partnership agreement with C-Bridge Capital, a Chinese venture fund management company, for development and sales of biosimilar products in China.
Under the agreement, Samsung Bioepis and C-Bridge will cooperate in clinical trials, licensing, and commercialization of Herceptin biosimilar SB3 (ingredient name: trastuzumab), Lucentis biosimilar SB11 (ingredient name: ranibizumab), and Soliris biosimilar SB12 (ingredient name: eculizumab) in China.
C-Bridge will establish a biopharmaceutical company named Affamed Therapeutics in China and take charge of sales of licensed products. Samsung Bioepis will receive down payment for the rights agreement and receive a certain percentage of sales in royalties.
Founded in 2014, C-Bridge is China's leading healthcare venture fund management company with a business portfolio covering all areas of healthcare services, including biopharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics, and currently has about 2 trillion won (US$1.78billion) in assets under management.
Meanwhile, Samsung Bioepis signed a cooperation partnership in January with 3S Bio, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, for clinical trial, licensing, and commercialization of Avastain biosimilar SB8 (ingredient name: bevacizumab) in China.
Samsung Bioepis is expected to accelerate the launch of its pipelines in China, the world's second-largest drug market, by simultaneously proceeding with clinical trials and licensing through its partnership with C-Bridge and 3S Bio.