Three deals involving Samsung Biologics (207940.KS), SK Biopharmaceuticals (326030.KS) and Hanmi Pharmaceutical (128940.KS) have been named among the 10 most influential transactions in the Asia-Pacific pharmaceutical and biotech market this year. The three Korean companies pursued global expansion through different routes — securing an obesity drug manufacturing network, licensing in a U.S. drug candidate, and licensing out a next-generation obesity treatment.
According to the Bio Economy Research Center at the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization on the 5th, industry publication BioPharma APAC selected the top 10 deals after assessing mergers and acquisitions and technology transfers involving Asia-Pacific companies from Jan. 1 to Sept. 23 this year. The evaluation considered deal size along with strategic significance, committed payments and actual market impact.
Samsung Biologics ranked sixth on the strength of a large acquisition aimed at securing production facilities and supply chains. Its roughly $1.8 billion deal to acquire PolyPeptide, a Swiss peptide contract development and manufacturing organization, drew high marks for preemptively building production capacity and supply chains to meet surging demand for obesity and diabetes treatments. BioPharma APAC described the transaction as a deal to buy up the obesity drug supply chain.
SK Biopharmaceuticals placed seventh for its aggressive strategy of buying U.S. drug candidates. The company licensed the epilepsy drug candidate opacalim from U.S.-based Biohaven, with $400 million in committed payments and a total deal value of up to $795 million. The deal drew attention because the company committed substantial funds to secure a U.S. drug candidate before pivotal clinical results were released. While SK Biopharmaceuticals can leverage the sales network it uses to market Xcopri directly in the United States, future clinical results were cited as the variable that will determine the investment's outcome.
Hanmi Pharmaceutical came in ninth with a licensing deal for a next-generation obesity treatment. The company agreed to license HM17321, a muscle-preserving obesity drug candidate, to Genentech, a Roche subsidiary, for $190 million upfront and up to about $2.3 billion in total. The deal was seen as recognition of the value of Korean metabolic disease research capabilities, as competition in obesity drugs expands beyond weight loss to muscle preservation.
The top-ranked deal was India's Sun Pharmaceutical's acquisition of U.S.-based Organon. The transaction was valued at $11.75 billion including assumed debt. Four of the 10 deals, including those by Samsung Biologics and SK Biopharmaceuticals, were transactions in which Asia-Pacific companies paid out funds, showing that companies in the region are growing into buyers of overseas firms and drug candidates rather than only licensing out their own technology.
