PharmAbcine, a bio company specializing in antibody therapies, said Tuesday that it chose Samsung Biologics as a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) to develop the candidate substance, PMC-403, for disease-related angiogenesis.

Under the accord, Samsung Biologics will provide the entire CDMO service of PMC-403, including cell strain and process development, clinical sample production, and support for submitting the investigational new drug (IND) plans to PharmAbcine.

PMC-403 is a candidate substance for treating disease-related angiogenesis by activating the cell surface receptor Tie-2 of the Angiopoietin-1 and -2 proteins. The activated Tie-2 receptors stimulate the formation of blood vessels and stabilize abnormal vascular function caused by poor connection or puncture on the vessel walls.

PharmAbcine expects to develop PMC-403 as a therapy for various symptoms, including acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute kidney and lung injury, diabetic foot disease, and hemorrhagic shock, which are the major complications of Covid-19.

The company plans to begin a global phase 1 trial of PMC-403 for eye disease in 2022.

PharmAbcine, which recently signed a joint research agreement with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, an affiliate of the U.S. National Institute of Health, plans to conduct a preclinical study to assess the efficacy of PMC-403 in systemic capillary leak syndrome (SCLS).

SCLS is a severe systemic disease in which body fluids and proteins rapidly escape from blood vessels to connective tissue due to transient systemic vascular endothelial cell dysfunction.

“The deal will be a significant turning point for carrying out our long-prepared angiogenic substance to enter into fields other than cancer,” PharmAbcine CEO Yoo Jin-san said. “We anticipate the PMC-403 manufactured with the cooperation of Samsung Biologics to be used not only for the development of SCLS therapy but also in studies on various vascular diseases.”

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