Samsung deepens ADC push with equity investment in China-based Phrontline

Samsung is deepening its bet on antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) with a new equity investment in China-based Phrontline Biopharma, adding capital to an October licensing deal that brought Phrontline’s dual-payload ADC platform into Samsung Bioepis’ oncology pipeline.

Samsung Life Science Fund, an investment vehicle backed by Samsung C&T, Samsung Biologics and Samsung Bioepis and managed by Samsung Ventures, said Tuesday it has made an undisclosed investment in Phrontline, a clinical-stage ADC developer.

The move follows an October agreement that gave Samsung Bioepis co-development rights to two Phrontline ADCs, including the bispecific, dual-payload candidate TJ108, and an exclusive license to a topoisomerase-1 inhibitor payload for use in Samsung’s internal ADC programs. 

Taken together, the licensing deal and the equity stake show Samsung tying its oncology strategy more directly to Phrontline’s technology as it tries to build a novel drug portfolio beyond its core biosimilar business and expand in ADCs.

Phrontline develops ADCs using proprietary bispecific antibodies and a branched dual-linker system that can deliver two drugs at once. The design aims to improve payload delivery and combine two mechanisms of action with similar potency. The company says this approach is intended to address growing concerns around first-wave ADCs, including resistance, tumor heterogeneity and short-lived responses in solid tumors.

Lead programs, including TJ108, target a range of solid tumors such as lung cancer, head and neck cancer, ovarian cancer and renal cell carcinoma.

TJ108 is designed to bind both EGFR and HER3 and to carry a topoisomerase-1 inhibitor and a tubulin inhibitor, an approach that Samsung Life Science Fund says could help maintain activity as tumors adapt under treatment.

Samsung did not disclose financial terms of the investment. The companies also have not released details of the upfront payment or milestone payments tied to the October licensing and co-development agreement.

The Phrontline deal is the latest ADC-focused move from the Samsung Life Science Fund. The fund has previously invested in Araris Biotech, which is developing linker-payload technology to attach cytotoxic payloads to existing antibodies, and Aimed Bio, a Korean biotech working on ADCs and other targeted oncology drugs. 

With Phrontline, the fund adds a clinical-stage, dual-payload platform to a portfolio that already includes linker chemistry and early-stage cancer research.