Samsung Bioepis seeks to buy Biogen biosimilar unit

Samsung Bioepis Co., a biopharmaceutical research and development unit under South Korea’s Samsung Group, seeks to buy a biosimilar business division of Nasdaq-listed Biogen Inc. at less than 1 trillion won ($775.3 million), banking sources said on Tuesday.
 
Biogen has tapped New York-based Evercore Inc. as its financial advisor and is in talks with potential buyers of the biosimilar division, sources said. Samsung Bioepis has selected its advisor and seeks to secure direct sales networks in Europe and the US through the deal, according to sources.

Biogen is in a course of restructuring to save costs as the neurological disease-focused firm prepares to launch Alzheimer’s disease treatment Leqembi, which won accelerated approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in January of this year. The biotech said last week it will cut about 1,000 jobs, or 11% of its total, by 2025.

Biogen’s biosimilar business posted $751 million in revenue last year. Key products include autoimmune disease drugs Benepali, Imraldi and Flixabi, and retina treatment Byooviz, all developed by Samsung Bioepis.

The Massachusetts-based biotech also owns rights to commercialize, develop and manufacture China-based Bio-Thera Solutions Ltd.’s BAT1806 biosimilar referencing Actemra, rheumatoid arthritis treatment co-developed by Swiss drug giant F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG and Japan’s Chugai Pharmaceutical Co.

 

MAJOR CANDIDATE FOR DEAL

Samsung Bioepis is a strong candidate to acquire the biosimilar business as the Korean biotech had a decade-long partnership with Biogen.

The US biotech and Samsung Biologics Inc., Samsung Group’s biosimilar production unit, jointly established Samsung Bioepis in 2012. Biogen sold off nearly half its stake in Samsung Bioepis at $2.3 billion in February of 2022, resulting in Samsung Biologics wholly owning the biosimilar developer.

Samsung Bioepis logged 946.3 billion won in revenue and 231.5 billion won in operating profit last year. Industry watchers predict that the company’s revenue will rise more than 40% if it clinches the deal.

As it lacks direct sales power, the biosimilar developer has had to rely on global biotech networks to break through to the US and Europe. The firm launched Hadlima in the US market, which references rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease drug Humira, via a partnership with Organon & Co. last month. 

Samsung Group, the parent of the two Samsung biotechs, is striving to foster the biopharmaceutical business as its second cash cow following semiconductors. It plans to double the number of its biosimilar products on sale to 10 by 2025 and accelerate its development of new drugs.

(Updated with the deal size)

Write to Dae-Kyu Ahn at powerzanic@hankyung.com

Jihyun Kim edited this article.