Samsung Bioepis is accelerating its drug development efforts by collaborating with external biotech ventures. The company is emphasizing open innovation as it expands from biopharmaceutical research into new drug areas.
According to industry sources, Samsung Bioepis signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) last month with the Atlas Innovation Center, a Chinese biotech growth support organization, to enhance global open innovation collaboration. This marks the company's first partnership with an overseas open innovation institution, aimed at proactively securing promising early-stage technologies. Atlas provides research infrastructure and clinical trial services in major biotech hubs such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Singapore, facilitating collaboration between global pharmaceutical companies and biotech ventures.
The company plans to utilize this network to identify promising biotech firms from the initial research stage and expand its collaboration scope by leading the design and operation during clinical development. By sharing the financial and regulatory burdens that biotech ventures face during clinical trials, Samsung Bioepis aims to secure high-potential technologies early on.
Recently, the company has also initiated the "2026 Seoul Biohub-Samsung Bioepis Open Innovation Program" in partnership with the Seoul Biohub, focusing on discovering domestic biotech startups capable of linking technologies such as antibody and peptide-based therapies and artificial intelligence (AI) drug development platforms.
The new drug pipeline is expanding, focusing on peptide-based obesity treatments and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Samsung Bioepis is developing an obesity treatment that combines glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) technology with long-lasting efficacy, aiming for a single administration to maintain effects for several months. In March, the company entered into a joint research and licensing agreement with domestic biotech firm G2G Bio in collaboration with the biotech platform company Episenex Lab.
This approach is seen as a strategy to differentiate itself in the obesity treatment market, currently dominated by major pharmaceutical companies. The focus is on improving dosing convenience while reducing development risks based on proven technologies and gradually seeking market entry.
In the ADC sector, the first drug candidate, SBE303, has begun global Phase 1 clinical trials, with preclinical results recently presented at AACR 2026. This candidate combines the company's antibody with linker technology from domestic firm Intecelle and payload from Chinese company Frontline, developed through open innovation. A second drug candidate, SBE313, is also under joint research and development with Frontline.
Samsung Bioepis aims to secure at least one clinical-stage drug candidate each year. Kim Kyung-a, CEO of Samsung Bioepis, confirmed the company's focus on expanding its business around new drug development during the first regular shareholders' meeting of the year. The company plans to reinvest profits generated from its biosimilar business into new drug development while strengthening its strategy to quickly connect external candidates to new drug development based on accumulated analytical and processing capabilities.
A Samsung Bioepis representative stated, "We plan to accelerate the acquisition and development of various drug candidates targeting unmet medical needs through open innovation."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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