Samsung Biologics and Kineta strike cancer immunotherapy development and manufacturing deal

Samsung to provide end-to-end CDMO services to advance Kineta's novel anti-VISTA antibody for the treatment of solid tumours

Korean contract development and manufacturing organisation Samsung Biologics and biotech Kineta have signed a strategic partnership agreement to support IND (investigational new drug) filing for Kineta’s novel anti-VISTA antibody, KVA12.1, for the treatment of solid tumours.

The CDMO will provide a range of services from cell line development, clinical drug substance, and drug product manufacturing.

The manufacturing cell line will be developed with support from Samsung Biologics’ first US R&D Center in San Francisco, which opened in October 2020. The corresponding clinical trial materials will be manufactured at Samsung Biologics' headquarters in Incheon, South Korea.

Samsung Biologics claims its CDO business brings development services at a greater speed, delivering cell line development to drug substance manufacturing in six months, and to drug product manufacturing in seven months - the "fastest" pace in the industry.

According to Shawn Iadonato, Chief Executive Officer at Kineta, the company hopes the partnership will advance KVA12.1 to IND and into first-in-human clinical trials next year.

Kineta is a clinical-stage biotech company developing novel immunotherapies in oncology.