K-Bio to showcase CDMO·new drugs at the JP Morgan

Healthcare Conference

'JP Morgan Healthcare Conference 2025' will be held in the US from January 13-16

Samsung Biologics·Lotte Biologics·Celltrion will seek potential partners…ADC manufacturing plants have been secured

To explore potential out-licensing opportunities for a GLP-1 obesity drug…Onconic·Bridge Biotherapeutics will participate

The Korean pharmaceutical and biotech industry is set to participate in the new year's first global event, the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.

 

Attention has been drawn to what the Korean pharmaceutical and biotech industry will accomplish during the event, which will include discussions of blockbuster technology transfers and partnering agreements.

 

According to industry sources on January 2, Samsung Biologics, Lotte Biologics, Celltrion, Bridge Biotherapeutics, Onconic Therapeutics, and others will attend the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.

 

The Healthcare Conference, hosted by the US investment bank JP Morgan, is the largest pharmaceutical and biotech industry investment event, where venture capitals (VC) and hedge funds attend.

 

The event will be held in San Francisco, US, for four days from January 8.

 

Korean CDMO companies gear up to land contracts During the event, Samsung Biologics, Lotte Biologics, Celltrion, and other participants will showcase their contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) competitiveness.

 

Samsung Biologics will showcase its biopharmaceutical CDMO competitiveness based on its new manufacturing plant, Plant 5, which will be completed in April.

 

The company is constructing a plant at the Bio Campus in Songdo, Incheon, for antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) production, which is aimed to be completed within this year.

 

Samsung Biologics currently has a total production capacity of 600,000 liters.

 

The company has invested KRW 1.98 trillion in constructing Plant 5 in Songdo.

 

Samsung Biologics will hold a total capacity of 784,000 liters across Plant 1-5.

 

Celltrion will showcase its new drug development achievements, including a new ADC anti-cancer drug, and CDMO vision.

 

The company unveiled the new ADC drug result of the Phase 1 clinical trial at the 'World ADC 2024' held in November last year.

 

Celltrion

Celltrion is conducting a clinical trial for 'CT-P70,' an ADC candidate product for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and 'CT-P71,' which targets many solid cancer indications, including bladder cancer.

 

The safety of these new drug candidates has been confirmed in a phase 1 clinical trial and a pre-clinical trial, respectively.

 

Additionally, Celltrion will initiate the business operations of its subsidiary, 'Celltrion BioSolutions,' which was launched in December 2024.

 

Celltrion aims to build manufacturing facilities and a research center and generate sales from 2028.

 

Lotte Biologics will attend the conference and plans to showcase its CDMO competitiveness.

 

The company plans to build three bio plants in Songdo by 2023 with a total production capacity of 360,000 liters for antibody pharmaceutical production.

 

The new Plant 1 will have a cell culture system and an API system for producing clinical agents.

 

The company will design a 3,000-liter bioreactor capable of fulfilling the demand for both stainless steel bioreactors (cell culture system) and high-potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (HPAPI).

 

Lotte Biologics aims to achieve global biopharmaceutical production competitiveness by investing up to KRW 4.6 trillion by 2030.

 

To showcase achievements in new drug development…will this result in out-licensing opportunities? Onconic Therapeutics and Bridge Biotherapeutics have been officially invited to the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, where they will showcase their competitiveness in new drug development.

 

Onconic Therapeutics launched 'Ja Q Bo Tab,' a P-CAB for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), last year.

 

Ja Q Bo Tab has been designated the 37th new drug in Korea.

 

Additionally, Onconic Therapeutics successfully out-licensed Ja Q Bo to twenty-one foreign countries.

 

Onconic Therapeutics plans to focus on holding strategic meetings with global pharmaceutical companies and investors during the upcoming JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.

 

In addition to Ja Q Bo, the company plans to introduce the targeted anticancer agent, 'nesuparib,' to the global market.

 

Onconic Therapeutics has been developing 'nesuparib,' a dual-targeting inhibitor of PARP·tankyrase, as the follow-up pipeline after Ja Q Bo.

 

Bridge Biotherapeutics plans to present its key R&D projects, including the idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) treatment candidate 'BBT-877,' and potential company growth strategy.

 

BBT-877 is an innovative new drug candidate that selectively inhibits the new targeted protein autotaxin.

 

Autotaxin is a protein involved in pathophysiological mechanisms, such as tumorigenesis, by binding with receptors in the cell.

 

Bridge Biotherapeutics has completed enrolling 120 patients in the Phase 2 clinical trial for BBT-877.

 

The comparative Phase 2 clinical trial will evaluate the effectiveness, safety, and drug tolerance by administering BBT-877 and placebo in patients with IPF.

 

STCube will hold business meetings with multinational pharmaceutical companies to out-license 'nelmastobart.' The company is developing the candidate immune checkpoint inhibitor nelmastobart, which targets a new biomarker, BTN1A1.

 

BTN1A1 is a protein that regulates the immune responses to cancer cells by suppressing the activity of T cells, which are immune cells.

 

This biomarker is not expressed in healthy cells but is strongly expressed in cancer cells.

 

BTN1A1 expression is mutually exclusive to that of PD-L1.

 

By targeting BTN1A1, STCube is developing an immune checkpoint inhibitor that could be a new treatment option for intractable cancer.

 

D&D Pharmatech will showcase the glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist for obesity.

 

In November, D&D Pharmatech began the clinical trial for DD02, an oral GLP-1 drug for obesity, through its US partner, Metsera.

 

D&D Pharmatech also plans to showcase the new drug candidate for treating MASH, DD01, which is undergoing a phase 2 clinical trial.