바이오스펙테이터

by Jongwon Jang

CDO services for up to 15 candidate substances for five years

On March 20th, 2019 at the Conrad Hotel in Yeouido, Seoul, Samsung BioLogics Co. signed a contract development organization (CDO) contract with Eutilex Co. to develop anticancer immunotherapy medicines.

Under this deal, Samsung BioLogics will develop cell lines for up to 15 immuno-oncology candidates currently being developed by Eutilex, and over a period of five years, produce materials for the first clinical trial stage.

Eutilex, which was founded in 2015 by CEO Kwon Byeong-se as a company to develop immuno-antibody therapeutics to treat cancers, was listed on Kosdaq in December of last year. Eutilex’s pipeline includes antibody to T-cell and CAR-T cell therapies to target the entire immuno-antibody therapeutics market. It carries out nonclinical and clinical research for the early commercialization of multiple candidate substances and technologies.

A CDO business means a contracted development service, which includes the development of cell lines for the efficient production of candidate substances currently being developed by customers, the development of mass-production processes, and the production of clinical materials for phase I clinical trials. In particular, as an increasing number of small and medium-sized biotech companies are outsourcing the development and production of biotech drugs to CDOs, the CDO market is growing at an average annual rate of 15 % or higher.

For less than a year since it entered the CDO business, Samsung BioLogics has been securing fast track records by signing contracts with six companies from home and abroad, including Eutilex, to develop new drugs.

Kim Tae-han, chief executive of Samsung BioLogics, said that the company will make relentless efforts to help domestic bio ventures, such as Eutilex, advance into the global market, and through its CDO technology, realize the early commercialization of developments.

Kwon Byeong-se, chief executive of Eutilex, said that the conclusion of the CDO contract will accelerate the speed of non-clinical research, and will hasten the development of blockbuster anti-cancer immunotherapy, such as ‘Keytruda’ and ‘Opdivo’.