[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Samsung Biologics announced on the 24th that it has signed a contract for contract development (CDO) of retinal disease treatments with the new drug research and development company Kanaph Therapeutics.
Kanaph Therapeutics is a company that develops new drugs mainly for diseases with few treatments in the fields of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Under this contract, Samsung Biologics will support the entire new drug development process, including cell line development of the therapeutic candidate KNP-301, process development, non-clinical, and clinical sample production. This substance is a bispecific fusion protein indicated for retinal diseases such as dry macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
Samsung Biologics, which was previously focused on contract manufacturing (CMO), is expanding its customer base in the CDO field, which covers the development stage. Kim Tae-han, CEO of Samsung Biologics, said, "The fact that a bio-venture entrusted us with their important first drug development means they have confidence in our contract development services," adding, "We will successfully develop the retinal disease treatment, which focuses on process and formulation development, and demonstrate the expertise of our CDO services."
Lee Byung-chul, CEO of Kanaph, stated, "Several of Kanaph's new drug candidates are expected to enter clinical development stages," and added, "Through the partnership with Samsung Biologics, our own clinical personnel and core experts specialized in candidate substances, and the utilization of the clinical trial contract organization network, we will succeed in global clinical trials."
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