This photo shows a researcher of a pharmaceutical company in the city of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, conducting a test to develop new products. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s pharmaceutical and biomedical companies are doubling down on nanomedicine-related investment and research efforts.
The Life Science Fund, created jointly by Samsung C&T Corp. and Samsung Biologics Co., decided to invest 19 billion won (US$14 million) in U.S.-based biotech firm Senda Biosciences Inc. last week.
Senda possesses the technology to develop drug delivery products by applying artificial intelligence (AI) to millions of nanoparticle big data detected in animals, plants and bacteria.
Samsung Biologics plans to expand cooperation with the American biotech firm, saying that Senda’s technology can contribute to ensuring the effective delivery of drugs to specific cells and organs, while also being used to edit nucleic acids and genes.
“The lipid-based nanoparticles (LNP)-based drug delivery technology has a broad range of applications, including protein drugs for oral applications. Since this market has huge growth potential, the industry is actively engaged in nanomedicine research,” an industry official said.
In April, GC Biopharma signed a deal with Canadian LNP delivery system developer Acuitas Therapeutics to introduce LNP technology.
Meanwhile, Moogene Medi Co. has developed LNP technology on its own, acquiring a U.S. patent for a type 2 diabetes drug using LNP technology in June.
Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
