Samsung Bioepis makes 3rd investment in ADCs

aiming for new drug commercialization

Samsung Bioepis has invested in shares for BrickBio…3rd investment following its previous investments in AimedBio Araris Biotech

Involved in acquiring ADC linker technology…Securing CDMO production capacity while focusing on new drug commercialization

Samsung Group, together with Samsung Bioepis, has made its third investment in companies discovering Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs).

 

Samsung Group plans to actively participate in new drug commercialization through acquiring the original technology as Samsung Biologics expands its CDMO facility for producing ADCs.

 

Samsung Group announced on the 26th that it has invested in BrickBio, a company focused on developing ADCs, through Life Sciences Fund.

 

Life Sciences Fund is a venture investment fund established jointly with Samsung Bioepis, Samsung C&T Corporation, and Samsung Biologics, collectively pooling KRW 170 billion.

 

This is Samsung Group’s third investment in companies developing ADCs, following its investments in Swiss Araris Biotech and Korea’s AimedBio.

 

Samsung Biologics anticipates completing the production facility for ADCs this December.

 

Samsung Group aims to secure ADC CDMO production capacity while acquiring its new drug through investment in shares.

 

Samsung Bioepis focuses on acquiring ADC technology.

The US-based company BrickBio, which Samsung Group recently invested in, has the Evolved tRNA Localization (ETRNAL) platform.

 

Through this platform, BrickBio can utilize modified tRNA (transport RNA) to attach artificial amino acids to specific positions on proteins.

 

Notably, BrickBio's linkers are soluble in aqueous solutions like blood, enabling the antibody/payload structure to bind to cancer cells appropriately without additional editing.

 

BrickBio’s current candidate products are BRKB-300, BRKB-400, BRKB-20, BRKB-500.

 

BRKB-300 is a solid tumor ADC that targets B7-H3.

 

It is currently in the process of preparing for an Investigational New Drug (IND) approval.

 

There are no other commercialized products with this mechanism.

 

The rest of the candidate products, like BRKB-400, are either in the preclinical or candidate exploration stages.

 

AimedBio holds the ADC candidate ABM302, which targets FGFR3, a biomarker mainly expressed in bladder cancer.

 

ABM302 is co-developed with China's GeneQuantum Healthcare, combining AimedBio's developed FGFR3 antibody with GeneQuantum's linker-payload technology.

 

AimedBio's ADC technology is characterized by having control of the Antibody-Payload Ratio (DAR).

 

Currently, no ADCs use this mechanism for solid tumor therapy targeting the FGFR3 protein.

 

While FGFR3 is a key protein for solid tumor therapy, no drugs are currently developed using this mechanism as an ADC.

 

In preclinical studies, ABM302 demonstrated pharmacokinetics and safety in nonhuman primates.

 

Samsung Bioepis begins ADC research and development with the Swiss company Araris Biotech.

 

Araris has linker technology capable of conjugating antibodies through a single process.

 

Araris' linker technology enables payload attachment at amino acid (Q295) sites within IgG-Fc.

 

When payloads attach to this site, antibodies maintain nearly identical pharmacokinetic performance.

 

Moreover, the linker payload, connected to the antibody via peptide conjugation, maintains excellent stability in circulation, avoiding damage to healthy tissues.

 

These three characteristics are considered key factors that enable efficient payload delivery and maximum ADC efficiency.

 

Focuses on acquiring ADC technology… Increasing need for developing third-generation ADCs ADC is a novel anticancer drug that connects an antibody, which binds to specific antigens on the surface of cancer cells, with a cytotoxic drug linked by a linker.

 

ADCs take advantage of antibodies' selectivity for their targets and the drug's cytotoxic activity to selectively target cancer cells, thereby increasing therapeutic efficacy while minimizing side effects.

 

Securing target selection and linker technology is essential to developing new ADCs.

 

If the drug-antibody connection is weak, the drug may detach from the antibody before reaching the cancer cells.

 

The companies invested by the Samsung Group are recognized for their success in securing antibody drugs and their linker technologies.

 

While first-generation ADCs such as Roche’s Kadcyla have been limited to breast cancer indications, second-generation ADCs are successfully securing a variety of indications.

 

Enhertu, for example, has shown effectiveness in various solid tumor areas such as breast cancer, gastric cancer, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and colorectal cancer.

 

Gilead's Trodelvy, which has secured indications for breast cancer, has also shown efficacy in NSCLC, urothelial cancer, and other types.

 

There is a growing interest in developing follow-up ADCs for multiple indications, both domestically and internationally.

 

ADCs approved for use or under development utilize microtubule inhibitors or DNA-damaging agents as payloads to conjugate with immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies and pH-dependent or non-cleavable linkers.

 

pH-dependent linkers may cause incomplete systemic cytotoxicity during plasma circulation, while hydrophobic linkers are prone to aggregation, resulting in poor pharmacokinetics and efficacy in the body.

 

Therefore, there is an increasing need for new ADCs with novel mechanisms of action that can maintain a high and consistent drug-antibody ratio, employ cleavable linkers for plasma stability, and demonstrate efficacy even in heterogeneous tumor environments with low target protein expression.