Samsung to invest US$300 mln in biosimilars JV

Samsung Biologics and Biogen Idec Inc. have agreed to invest US$300 million to form a biosimilars joint venture, Samsung Group said Tuesday, the conglomerate's latest move to expand into healthcare as a new revenue source. Samsung Biologics will contribute $255 million and control an 85 percent stake in the venture and Biogen Idec will hold the remaining 15 percent stake in the venture, Samsung said in a statement. The venture will be established in March 2012 in Incheon, 40 kilometers west of Seoul, and will develop, manufacture and market biosimilars, officially approved copycat medicines developed after patents for the original biopharmaceuticals expire. Samsung Biologics is Samsung's biopharmaceutical manufacturing unit formed in April 2011, as part of Samsung's plan to diversify its businesses outside its mainstay consumer electronics and mobile devices and seek new cash sources. "At Samsung, one of our goals is to help patients around the world by increasing the accessibility and affordability of existing medicines," Kim Tae-han, chief executive of Samsung Biologics, said in a statement. "Since many of the world's top-selling drugs are biologics, developing and making high-quality biosimilars is critical to that goal."