Samsung Biologics partners with Europe's largest VC

Samsung Biologics Co., the world's largest contract drug manufacturer, announced on Tuesday it has teamed up with global biotech venture capitalist (VC) Kurma Partners.

Under this agreement, Samsung Biologics will provide customized contract development services for biotech companies that Kurma Partners invests in.

The company launched customized chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC) in August this year. Using CMC, Samsung Biologics will offer CMC programs tailored to the characteristics and development strategies of each candidate substance, supporting the development process with optimized services from the early stages.

Founded in 2009, Kurma Partners is an affiliate of Eurazeo, Europe's largest investment group. This VC is specialized in biotech and healthcare. It has secured a wide network and collaborations with pharmaceutical companies from major biotech clusters across the world, primarily based in the European market.

Through this agreement, Samsung Biologics aims to expand its mutually beneficial collaborations with promising biotechs and strengthen partnerships with potential clients. This is part of its plan to strategically cooperate with partner companies when they achieve success in biopharmaceutical development, increasing opportunities to provide Samsung Biologics' end-to-end solutions.

Samsung Biologics entered the contract development (CDO) business in 2018 and has signed more than 100 contracts in just five years. Recently, the company launched customized development solution services, expanding its differentiated CDO services to provide process development services not only up to the pre-clinical stage but also into the late clinical stages.

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