Fierce Pharma Asia—AbbVie's $1B pact with Simcere; Takeda's launch map; Samsung Bio's growth plans

As the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference started in San Francisco on Monday, AbbVie linked up with Simcere with a $1 billion deal for the Chinese biopharma's phase 1 T-cell engager. Later during the conference, Takeda CEO Christophe Weber laid out the company's top pipeline prospects, a group of 6 drugs that could collectively generate $20 billion at peak. And Samsung Biologics, on the heels of a record contract, is looking at constructing a sixth manufacturing plant. Plus more.

1. JPM25: AbbVie pens $1B deal for Simcere’s phase 1 T-cell engager 

As the biopharma industry gains more interest in T-cell engagers, AbbVie stole part of the spotlight at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference early this week with a new deal centered on the tech. In a partnership and option to license agreement worth up to $1.05B, AbbVie and Simcere Zaiming will work to advance SIM0500, a phase 1 prospect already in testing in multiple myeloma. The drug is a humanized trispecific antibody developed with the biotech's T-cell engager polyspecific antibody tech.

2. JPM25: Takeda spotlights 6 pipeline assets that could pull down up to $20B in collective peak sales  

Also at this week's conference, Takeda CEO Christophe Weber took to the stage to explain the company's growth plans despite Entyvio's future downfall. Takeda has 6 mid- and late-stage drugs that could generate up to $20 billion in peak sales, the CEO told the audience. The pipeline candidates target narcolepsy type 1, psoriasis, blood cancer and other diseases. In addition to advancing its own assets, Takeda will "not sit idle" while it identifies promising innovations outside of the company, Weber said.

3. JPM25: Amid Samsung Bio's rapid expansion, CDMO weighs plan to build a 6th plant

As Samsung Biologics racks up one production contract after another, the company is busy building out its manufacturing footprint. The company's fifth manufacturing plant is expected to come online by April, and now it's looking at building a sixth plant in Incheon, South Korea. The fifth plant will bring Samsung Biologics' annual production capacity to 784,000 liters, while the sixth would add another 180,000 liters to the figure.

4. Daiichi Sankyo gins up antibody research project with German research institute

Elsewhere, Japan's Daiichi Sankyo is teaming up with the Germany-based research institute BioMed X to work on developing potential cancer drugs. The partners will use the latest advances in multi-functional biologics to develop "new therapies that can engage multiple targets simultaneously within the tumor microenvironment," according to a press release. The work will take place at the BioMed X Institute in Heidelberg, Germany.

5. Roche has access to $10B in M&A firepower per year, pharma CEO says. Where will it spend the money?

Amid all the dealmaking chatter at this week's J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, China was a frequent topic of conversation. At Roche, the company has a large presence in the country and will continue to look for assets in the country, the company's pharma CEO Teresa Graham said at the event. China is expected to continue to serve as a driver in the biopharma dealmaking landscape, according to a recent report from EY.

 

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