Samsung’s Life Science Fund invests in US biotech Jaguar Gene Therapy

Samsung Group’s 150 billion won ($124 million) Life Science Fund launched last year has chosen a leading US gene therapy development company as its first investment target.

Samsung C&T Corp. and Samsung Biologics Co., the joint operators of the venture capital, said on Wednesday they invested an unspecified amount in Illinois-based Jaguar Gene Therapy LLC. Samsung said it is acquiring an equity stake in Jaguar Gene Therapy as a strategic investor.

Industry officials said the investment is estimated at around 20 billion won.

Headquartered in Chicago, Jaguar Gene Therapy is a bio venture company that develops gene therapy treatments for people suffering from diabetes and other genetic diseases.

The company was established in October 2019, led by key researchers who developed Zolgensma, a gene therapy medication used to treat spinal muscular atrophy.

The product is a blockbuster drug, fetching $920 million in sales revenue last year, according to Samsung.

As a leader in the field of adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy, Jaguar Gene Therapy is particularly advancing an initial pipeline of three novel therapies, targeting Type 1 galactosemia, a genetic cause of autism and Type 1 diabetes.

Galactosemia is a rare genetic disease that can be life-threatening for newborns and cause severe lifelong complications from as early as the first year of life.

An AAV gene therapy delivers a therapeutic gene into target cells by using an AAV vector. Zolgensma is an AAV-based gene therapy.

SAMSUNG INTERESTED IN NOVEL GENE THERAPEUTICS

“Together with Jaguar Gene Therapy, we’ll seek opportunities to jointly expand our pipeline of investigational gene therapies,” said a Samsung Biologics official.

In January, Samsung Biologics said it is acquiring nearly a 50% stake in Samsung Bioepis Co., a biosimilar joint venture with Biogen Inc., from the US biotechnology company for $2.3 billion, ending their decade-long partnership to independently venture into the cell and gene therapy development business.

Samsung Biologics, the biotech arm of Samsung Group, is one of the industry’s leading contract drug manufacturers.

Under a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) scheme, Samsung Biologics has been working as Moderna Inc.’s Asian production base, making its COVID-19 vaccine for use in Korea and other countries.

Samsung Biologics is currently building its fourth plant in Songdo, near Seoul. Once completed, the company will have a bioreactor capacity of 620,000 liters, making it the world’s largest CMO facility in a single location.

The company said it will begin construction of its fifth plant, which will offer multimodal product services, in Songdo by the end of this year.

The fifth plant is said to be housing facilities that produce AAV-based gene therapies.

According to JPMorgan, the global gene therapy market is forecast to grow to $32 billion by 2026 from $5 billion in 2021.

Write to Jae-young Han at jyhan@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.