Frontier Biopharma Company Ltd

Ana Brnabi ć , Prime Minister of Serbia visited the SK bioscience headquarters. SK bioscience signed a memorandum of understanding with the Serbian government and Frontier Biopharma to support the vaccine manufacturing environment in Serbia by utilizing its vaccine R&D, manufacturing, and commercial capabilities. SEONGNAM, South Korea, Sept. 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SK bioscience, an innovative vaccine and biotech company committed to promoting human health from prevention to cure, announced that Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia (Serbia) has visited the SK bioscience headquarters and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the company to establish a strategic partnership in vaccine development and manufacturing between the two countries. Continue Reading (From Left) Jaeyong Ahn, CEO of SK bioscience, Chang won Chey, Vice Chairman of SK discovery, Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, and Kiren L. Naidoo, CEO of Frontier Biopharma Ltd. pose after signing a Memorandum of Understanding at the SK bioscience headquarters on September 8th. The MOU ceremony was attended by Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of Serbia, Nemanja Grbic, Serbian ambassador in South Korea, Kiren L. Naidoo, CEO of Frontier Biopharma Ltd., Jae-Woong Lee, Korean ambassador in Serbia, Chang won Chey, Vice Chairman of SK discovery, and Jaeyong Ahn, CEO of SK bioscience. This marks the first visit by a Serbian prime minister to South Korea in 13 years, dating back to 2010. Additionally, it is the current prime minister's only visit to a biopharmaceutical and vaccine company in South Korea during her stay. Along with the MOU, SK bioscience, and Frontier Biopharma agreed to sign a contract within the year for collaborating to establish vaccine manufacturing facilities in Serbia with support from the Serbian government. According to the MOU, SK bioscience will utilize its own vaccine R&D, manufacturing, and commercialization capabilities for strengthening the vaccine manufacturing environment to a global-certified level, transferring technologies and know-how for pandemic preparedness, commercializing products, training human resources, and supporting the vaccine R&D in Serbia. The newly established platform will supply Serbia and other European and emerging markets from a hub in Serbia. The Serbian government will provide administrative support related to the project and cooperate for possible supply of drug products in Serbia. Frontier Biopharma will be in charge of overall operation of the project. The demand for localization of vaccines in Serbia where most medical devices and medicines are currently imported from Europe and the United States is growing significantly. According to the 'Status of Korea-Serbia Cooperation Areas' report recently released by the 'Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA),' Serbia is actively seeking international collaborations and investing in biopharmaceutical and medical industry. Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister of Serbia said, "This MOU with SK bioscience and Frontier Biopharma is another proof of both Serbia's commitment to investments in BIO4 areas of biomedicine, biotechnology, bioinformatics and biodiversity, as well as Serbia's attractiveness to the best global biopharmaceutical companies. Serbia will be happy and proud to host SK bioscience as its hub for the region and Europe." Kiren L. Naidoo, CEO of Frontier Biopharma said, "As the parent company of Zdravlje AD, one of the most established pharmaceutical manufacturers in Serbia, we are delighted to be partnering with the Government of Serbia and SK bioscience on this landmark project. SK bioscience has a world-class vaccine development and manufacturing platform which delivers access to innovative, next-generation vaccines that prevent and treat life-threatening diseases. Over the next year we will work closely with our partners to establish a manufacturing hub that will serve Serbia and international markets with products of the highest quality." Chang won Chey, Vice Chairman of SK discovery said, "The demand for vaccine self-sufficiency has increased in the world due to the pandemic. This collaboration demonstrates that SK bioscience can contribute to global health. In addition to strengthening the Serbia's vaccine industry, we will continue to promote public health in the world." About SK bioscience SK bioscience is an innovative vaccine and biotech company, committed in vaccine development and manufacturing to enable more equitable access of vaccines in the world. In leveraging strengths on cutting-edge technologies, SK bioscience has been dedicated to promoting human health from prevention to cure across the globe. With cooperation of domestic and international governments, regulatory agencies, healthcare providers, doctors and medical experts, all of the SK colleagues are passionately committed to providing high-quality vaccines to those who need them and better public healthcare solutions. SK bioscience Website SK bioscience Linkedin About Frontier Biopharma and Zdravlje AD Frontier Biopharma is the parent company of Zdravlje AD, one of the most established pharmaceutical manufacturers in Serbia, established in 1953. The Company supplies approximately 40 markets around the world (including the EU, UK, Asia-Pacific, South Africa and Latin America) with world-class pharmaceutical products from its EU-GMP approved facilities in Leskovac, Serbia. Zdravlje Website Contact SK bioscience Communications Team Changhyun Jin ([email protected]) Jeannie S. Pak ([email protected]) Tae-Gyun Kim ([email protected]) SOURCE SK bioscience

Biopharma company curator Flagship Pioneering, which has launched companies such as Moderna, announced a massive infusion of cash that will be used to support the development and launch of new companies taking aim at a myriad of diseases and global health threats. Over the past several months, investors have supported the company’s Fund VII, bringing its capital pool total to $3.37 billion, which will help efforts to launch companies developing next-generation therapeutics and support agri-bio endeavors. Flagship Founder and Chief Executive Officer Noubar Afeyan said the funds raised would significantly impact preventing and treating diseases and feeding a growing global population. He pointed to the success of Moderna and its rapidly-developed COVID-19 vaccine that has been authorized for use across the globe as an example of what Flagship has been capable of achieving with its focus on building cohesive, integrated platforms aimed at the development of transformative products. “In the last year alone, breakthroughs at Rubius Therapeutics, Denali Therapeutics, Seres Therapeutics, and others demonstrated the exponential impact bioplatforms can have on health. Biotechnology is at the leading edge of technological progress, challenging us to think beyond incremental advances and take big leaps – and Flagship Pioneering is focused on actively leaping to the scientific spaces ripe for disruption,” Afeyan said in a statement. Since the start of 2021, Flagship Pioneering has launched multiple companies. In May, Flagship launched Laronde, which is developing a new type of RNA-based medicine called Endless RNA, or eRNA. eRNA-based medications are programmable and capable of providing “long lasting, persistent expression of therapeutic proteins” inside a patient’s body. Laronde’s launch came a few months after Flagship launched Inzen Therapeutics, which is developing new medications based on a new pathway discovered by Flagship called Thanokine Biology. It’s believed that that pathway offers the potential for new approaches to cancer, fibrotic disorders, immune-inflammatory disorders, metabolic disorders, and degenerative diseases. Flagship also launched a new division known as Pioneering Medicines that has a mandate to build a world-class biopharmaceutical R&D capability that will conceive and develop a portfolio of life-changing treatments for patients. Pioneering Medicines will be able to harness the power of its parent’s multiple scientific platforms found across 40 different companies. The idea is to use the technology owned by those companies, including Moderna and Evelo Biosciences, to take research into new areas that those companies are not studying. With the close of Fund VII, Flagship said it now has $14.1 billion in assets under management, and an aggregate capital pool of $6.7 billion. “This expanded capital pool will enable us to support first-in-category platform companies, spanning human therapeutics, agriculture, and nutrition, as well as our soon-to-be-launched Preemptive Medicine and Health Security Initiative, and the development of a robust pipeline of clinical assets through our Pioneering Medicines Division,” Stephen Berenson, Managing Partner of Flagship Pioneering said in a statement. In addition to its new Pioneering Medicines division, Flagship Pioneering is also building a preemptive medicines division aimed at developing products that can help people before they get sick. This division will focus on infectious disease threats and pursue bold treatments for existing diseases, including cancer, obesity, and neurodegeneration. "The (COVID-19) pandemic has laid bare the critical nature of health, not only to individuals, but to economies and societies," Ara Darzi, chairman of Flagship's Preemptive Medicine and Health Security Initiative said in a statement. “Flagship is pioneering a new field that aims to protect, maintain, and improve people's health by providing security against threats for everyone, and preventing or postponing the onset of disease for 'seemingly healthy' people, before they experience any recognizable symptoms at all.”

Celgene has recently announced that it is set to acquire Impact Biomedicines and its drug fedratinib, which will be added to Celgene’s therapies for myelofibrosis (a type of bone marrow cancer) and polycythemia vera. Further payment opportunities will arise upon the drug’s sales performance worldwide. Celgene will pay approximately $1.1 billion upfront and up to $1.25 billion in contingent payments based on regulatory approval milestones for myelofibrosis. The acquisition is one of the largest in the company’s history. "Myelofibrosis is a disease with high unmet medical need as the number of patients who are ineligible for or become resistant to existing therapy continues to increase," commented Nadim Ahmed, President, Haematology and Oncology for Celgene. See also "We believe fedratinib is uniquely positioned as a potential treatment for myelofibrosis and it provides strategic options for us to build leadership in this disease with luspatercept and other pipeline assets." Impact’s Chief Executive, John Hood, is one of the co-inventors of fedratinib when working at TargeGen Inc. Now involved in the sale of fedratinib for the second time, Hood has observed its potential for treating patients with myelofibrosis. “We launched Impact Biomedicines and based on our thorough review of the data, fedratinib presents a compelling risk benefit profile in both treatment-naïve patients and patients who are resistant or intolerant to other JAK2 therapies,” he said. "We believe Celgene is the ideal organisation to follow through on our mission of maximizing fedratinib's potential for patients with myelofibrosis."