바이오스펙테이터

by Sungmin Kim

Samsung Biologics was selected as the 'Company of the Year' by 71 CEOs of domestic bio companies. Samsung Biologics has been in the position for three consecutive years since it took over the top from Celltrion. However, compared to last year's majority vote, the share of the total showed a slight decrease.

As 'Person of the year in 2023', Celltrion Chairman Seo Jung-jin has been named for the fifth consecutive year since 2019, and his influence has grown more than last year. This seems to be the result of Chairman Seo's sudden return to management in March, two years after leaving the management line, to promote new drug development expansion and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the existing biosimilar business.

On the 15th, Biospectator conducted a survey of 71 CEOs of bio companies to mark the 7th anniversary of its founding with the question, ‘Who do you think is the most influential company and person in the domestic bio industry?’ 71 people responded, including 1 duplicate response in the person category.

As the global economic recession has been prolonged for more than two years due to new changes, the influence of companies that carry out practical joint development, licensing deals, and strategic investments (SI) with biotech is growing. As if reflecting this, Celltrion and Yuhan ranked second and third, respectively, showing a move to expand their influence in the pharmaceutical and bio industries than before.

Changes were more pronounced in the Person of the Year category. Sang Hoon Lee, CEO of ABL Bio, moved up to second place, and Yong-Zu Kim, CEO of LegoChem Biosciences, came in third. CEO Lee succeeded in turning a profit for the first time as a domestic biotech with only technology fees (development milestones) after a license-out deal with Sanofi in 2022, and it is interpreted that showing a new biotech business model drew great sympathy. LegoChem Biosciences has also continued to sign deals in the global market, such as a license deal with Amgen at the end of last year, and has recently added a movement to introduce substances.

In contrast to this, Mahn Soon Hwang, CEO of Korea Investment Partners, who ranked second in the list of influential people for two consecutive years, was excluded this year. As domestic venture capital (VC) has continued to move close to ‘zero (0) investment’ in biotech since the second half of last year, it is considered to show the rapidly cooled investment atmosphere as it is.

Compared to last year, there were no new figures in the pharmaceutical and bio industry. This is a regrettable part due to the nature of the biotech industry, which needs to continuously receive new spirit.

▲Survey results of 71 CEOs of Biospectator

‘CMO/Biosimilar’ influence still prevails in Korea.. New drug sector is centered on ‘biotechs with performance’

As the company of the year, Samsung Biologics was selected as the most influential company with 45.1% (31 votes). Samsung Biologics is solidifying its position in the domestic corporate influence sector with 20.4% (2nd) in 2020 → 42.6% (1st) in 2021 → 51% (1st) in 2022. The total share decreased by about 6 percentage points compared to last year.

In 2022, Samsung Biologics recorded the highest performance ever, exceeding 3 trillion won in annual sales, and operating profit approached 1 trillion won. In March of this year, Samsung Biologics decided to expand its fifth plant by investing 2 trillion won in consideration of CMO demand and the growth of the biopharmaceutical industry. When the 5th plant starts operating in April 2025, it will secure a total production capacity of 784,000 liters, overwhelmingly widening the gap as the global No. 1 CMO company. As if representing the continuous demand, Samsung Biologics recently signed a strategic partnership with Pfizer, and plans to consign production of Pfizer's various biosimilar portfolio.

The background for Samsung Biologics to firmly maintain its No. 1 position is not limited to simple production scale. Samsung Biologics is considering partnerships and M&A to strengthen the competitiveness of ADC production technology, which has recently emerged as a hot topic in the world, and invested in Switzerland’s Araris, which has site-specific bonding technology without antibody engineering. Samsung Biologics plans to have ADC commercial production capabilities by next year.

In a similar move, Lonza bought ADC dealmaker Synaffix earlier this month for 100 million euros. Synaffix is a company that has recently shown the most active deal movement in the ADC field, and is a biotech that has site-specific bonding technology and a payload platform. Through the acquisition of Synaffix, Lonza expands its services from early discovery of ADC development to development, scale-up, and commercialization.

In addition, Samsung Biologics is operating the biosimilar business through Samsung Bioepis, a 100% subsidiary.

Celltrion lost first place to Samsung Biologics with 42.6% (1st place) in 2020 → 23.5% (2nd place) in 2021 → 12.5% (2nd place) in 2022, but 15.5% (2nd place) with 11 votes this year showed a movement to regain some influence again.

Against this backdrop, Celltrion plans to launch 'Remsima SC' and high-concentration Humira biosimilar 'Yuflyma' in the US market this year, and plans to promote M&A from the end of this year with the return of chairman Seo Jung-jin as a stepping stone. In the industry, expectations are growing accordingly, and in fact, over the past 1-2 years, we have signed joint development and licensing deals with domestic and foreign biotechs across various modalities.

Celltrion has signed a joint new drug development partnership with ADC Pinotbio, oncolytic virus (OV), Genemedicine, Antibody Genuv, and Microbiome Liscure Biosciences in Korea over the past one to two years.

Celltrion also invested overseas company about $47 million in Iksuda Therapeutics in the UK with Mirae Asset Celltrion New Growth Fund, securing the largest stake of 47.05%, and expanded its partnership with Rani Therapeutics in the U.S. to develop oral antibody simulators such as Stella and Humira.

Yuhan Corporation ranked third with 12.7% (9 votes), the same ranking as last year, but its influence expanded from 8.3% (6 votes) last year.

Yuhan Corporation has been the most active in license ins (L/I) and strategic investments (SI) among domestic pharmaceutical companies for the past 2-3 years to discover the second 'Leclaza® (ingredient name: Lazertinib)'. Yuhan Corporation is concentrating its research resources and capabilities on three areas: oncology, metabolic disease, and central nervous system (CNS). Leclaza is used in Korea as a treatment for EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer, and in the global market, Janssen Pharmaceuticals is conducting phase 3 clinical trials as a combination therapy.

In March this year, Yuhan Corporation appointed Yeol-hong Kim, a professor of oncology and hematology at Korea University Medical University, as its president in charge of R&D. As a result, the existing central research institute and clinical medicine division under the R&D headquarters were upgraded to the business headquarters level and reorganized directly under President Kim along with the central research institute, and Lauren Young-Mi Lee from Hanmi Pharmaceutical was recruited as the head of the R&BD headquarters.

Subsequently, ABL Bio ranked fourth with 9.9% (7 votes) and LegoChem Biosciences ranked fifth with 4.2% (3 votes). Each company is represented by a bispecific antibody and an ADC platform in Korea. The two companies appear to be continuing their momentum after Biotech beat pharmaceutical companies for the first time in last year's Biospectator CEO's corporate sector survey of the year.

ABL Bio is Korea's leading biotech company and is steadily expanding its influence. ABL Bio signed a license-out deal worth up to $1.06 billion with Sanofi in January last year, including a $75 million down payment for the preclinical Parkinson's disease new drug "ABL301." Following the progress of clinical development, Sanofi received a total of $45 million in short-term milestones through two steps. Based on this, ABL Bio succeeded in turning into a surplus for the first time with a net profit of 3.2 billion won last year.

ABL Bio is conducting clinical development for six bispecific antibody programs in the areas of anticancer drugs and immunotherapeutic drugs. ABL Bio is pursuing a partnership to develop bispecific antibody ADCs based on topoisomerase I (TOP1) payload, and is expanding the scope of application of BBB bispecific antibodies to other diseases and modalities.

As a representative company with ADC linker technology, LegoChem Biosciences is showing steps to meet the expectations of the industry, such as signing an ADC discovery deal with Amgen at the end of last year. In particular, after the success of HER2 ADC 'Enhertu' in the anticancer drug sector, the deal movement to secure ADC technology in the global market has progressed aggressively, and it is emerging as the hottest keyword, drawing more attention.

In addition, as LegoChem Biosciences's own ADC program enters clinical development, it is transitioning from R&D to a clinical-stage company. As a first step, LegoChem Biosciences applied for an IND for TROP2 ADC to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month.

In sixth place, LG Chem took 2.8% (2 votes). LG Chem seems to have reflected its will to develop new drugs by completing the acquisition of US$566 million in January this year by acquiring AVEO Pharmaceuticals.

In addition, 4.2% (3 votes) of the opinion that 'there is no apparent company' came out, and the result of one other vote was counted as 'other', accounting for 5.6% (4 votes).

‘Undisputed No. 1’ Chairman Seo Jung-Jin’s influence expands.. ‘Proof of turning a profit through technology export’ Sang Hoon Lee’s ‘Leaping forward’

▲From the left Seo Jung-jin, Chairman of Celltrion and Sang Hoon Lee, CEO of ABL Bio and Yong-zu Kim, CEO of LegoChem Biosciences

In the 2023 Person of the Year survey, Chairman Seo Jung-jin was named the most influential person for five consecutive years, and the result was that his influence expanded from 23% (16 votes) last year to 38% (27 votes) this year. After his return, Chairman Seo announced in an official position that he would make efforts to match the sales ratio of biosimilars and new drugs to 6:4 by 2030, revealing his will to transform into a new drug development pharmaceutical company. He also sees platform technology as important for moving forward as a drug discovery company.

Overall, there was no major change in the target figures, except for the exclusion of Mahn Soon Hwang, CEO of Korea Investment Partners, from the rankings. In the ranking of figures for 2022, Mahn Soon Hwang ranked second (10.7%) after Chairman Seo Jung-jin, and Sang Hoon Lee, CEO of ABL Bio and Yong-zu Kim, CEO of LegoChem Biosciences, tied for third with 7.2% (5 votes), and Samsung Bioepis CEO Han-seung Koh ranked fourth with 5.8%. % (4 votes), etc.

In this survey, the second place was 11.3% (8 votes) for Sang Hoon Lee and 8.5% (6 votes) for third place Yong-zu Kim, resulting in greater influence than before. Now, it can be seen that the pharmaceutical and bio industries are paying attention to people who show R&D performance. About CEO Sang Hoon Lee's growing influence, it is interpreted that ABL Bio's leadership that has led the transition to a profit and clinical development of bispecific antibodies has been recognized in the industry. ABL Bio has been operating the company only through technology transfer for four and a half years since its listing despite the internal and external economic downturn, and has received a total of $138 million in technology fees so far (as of 2023.05).

CEO Yong-zu Kim’s company is a representative company of the ADC platform and led an additional partnership with Amgen following the existing partnership, and it is interpreted that his willingness to lead science-oriented R&D and new drug candidates to clinical development is highly evaluated. It is evaluated that it is showing a model of a researcher who is constantly devoted to research and development as the oldest member of the new drug development industry.

In a tie for fourth place, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Samsung Bioepis President Christopher Hansung Ko each received the same number of votes with 7% (5 votes). Chairman Lee Jae-yong has an awkward aspect to be seen as a figure in the bio industry, but he expressed his will to turn the success of the semiconductor industry into a bio when he accompanied President Seok-Yeol Yoon during his state visit to the United States in April of this year; expectations for this have been projected. CEO Christopher Hansung Ko is the representative of Samsung Bioepis, and after taking office as the head of the Korea bio association in 2021, it seems that he is actively engaged in activities to create a domestic bio ecosystem.

In this person influence survey, the opinion that there is no apparent person accounted for 9.9% (7 votes). The results with one other vote were counted as “other”, accounting for 18.3% (13 votes).

Companies participating in the 7th anniversary survey of Biospectator

Naason Science, NeoImmuneTech, NEX-I, Nextgen Bioscience, Novelty Nobility, Neuramedy, DewCell Biotherapeutics, De novo Biotherapeutics, LabGenomics, LegoChem Biosciences, Lunit, Microbiotix, MUSTBIO, MEDIFIC, Baobab AiBIO, Brexogen, Bridge Biotherapeutics, Cyrus Therapeutics, Samsung Bioepis, Celltrion, Standigm, SPARK Biopharma, CJ Bioscience, Arum Therapeutics, Amyloid Solution, Avelos Therapeutics, Aevis Bio, iN Therapeutics, IMBiologics, Eyegene, Rznomics, Alteogen, Aston Sci, AbClon, ABL Bio, Apitbio, Aimedbio, Engain, Lmito Therapeutics, Orum Therapeutics, Autotelic Bio, Y-Biologics, Onegene Biotechnology, Wellmarker Bio, EuBiologics, EPD Biotherapeutics, inCerebro, IntoCell, Illimis Therapeutics, ILIAS Biologics, YiPSCELL, Genosco, Genomictree, Genome & Company, Geninus, GI innovation, G2GBIO, GenKOre, Checkmate Therapeutics, Kanaph Therapeutics, Curocell, Qurient, Therapex, TriOar, Txinno Bioscience, TiCARos, PharmAbcine, Femtobiomed, Progeener, PinotBio, etc. 71 companies (in Korean alphabetical order).