SK's biotech bets step closer to commercialization

Biotechnology startups in Europe, backed by South Korea's SK Inc., are speeding up their development of next-generation drug candidates by joining hands with global pharmaceutical companies.  

On April 13, VanAI, wholly owned by Roivant Sciences, entered into a multi-year agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV to jointly develop new drugs for targeted protein degradation, using VanAI's machine learning technology.

Last year, SK injected $200 million into Roivant Sciences, a Switzerland-based biopharmaceutical firm, as a strategic investor.

Targeted protein degradation is emerging as an innovative approach to tackling disease-causing proteins that have been hard to remove with conventional drugs.

Janssen is part of the world's largest healthcare company Johnson & Johnson. Under the agreement with VanAI, it will receive an exclusive commercial license to its joint developments with the Swiss startup and will be responsible for their global development and commercialization.

Roivant's other subsidiary Proteovant Therapeutics recently agreed to receive as much as $652 million from the US biotech firm Blueprint Medicines to develop two protein degraders for cancer and blood disorders.
 
Founded in 2014, Roivant Sciences got listed on Nasdaq last year through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

Its artificial intelligence technology for targeted protein degradation is in the spotlight for reducing the development process for new drugs, a process that usually takes 10 years or more.

SK, the holding company of SK Group, has become the first Korean company to foray into the targeted protein degradation market through the strategic investment in Roivant.

It is now targeting companies in the fields of AI-powered drug development, gene editing, three-dimensional diagnostics and AI-enabled neural circuits analysis, which could emerge as game changers in their areas. 

CMO BUSINESS

The unit of South Korea's No.3 conglomerate has been stepping up its investment in domestic and foreign biotech startups to strengthen its footing in the biopharmaceutical sector, one of the group's three growth pillars, alongside semiconductor chips and electric vehicle batteries.

In 2020, SK acquired France’s biologics contract manufacturing organization (CMO) Yposkesi for an undisclosed sum, in a move to expand its CMO business into gene therapy.

In January of this year, it invested $350 million in The Center for Breakthrough Medicines, a US-based cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO).

Those investments followed the group's purchase of a manufacturing plant in Ireland from Bristol Myers Squibb in 2017 and the acquisition of AMPAC Fine Chemicals, a US-based CDMO, in 2018.

California-based SK Pharmteco Co., launched in 2019, manages the operations of the group's CMO and CDMO scattered in the US, Europe and Korea.

Once its biotech startups succeed in commercializing their drug candidates, SK hopes to expand its presence in the global market by working closely with its CMO arm SK Pharmteco.

SK Pharmteco is seeking a Nasdaq listing next year, its CEO Aslam Malik said in a conference hosted by JPMorgan in January of this year.

Write to Jae-Young Han at jyhan@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article