SK Holdings has participated in the 8 billion won (some $6.6 million) investment in Singapore bio venture Hummingbird Bio Science as a major investor, SK said on May 11.
Hummingbird headquartered in Singapore is a bio-sector venture company founded in 2015 to develop new antibody drugs. SK cited Hummingbird's technological edge as the background for the investment.
"Hummingbird has its own antibody discovery technology that predicts protein structure to select the best parts for antibodies to bond with, and only binds them to selected sites," an SK Holdings official said. "Through this, it has a competitive edge in minimizing trial and error in the process of developing new drugs and finding the best new drug candidate materials."
Hummingbird is a bio venture established in 2015 by experts from global healthcare company Sanofi to develop innovative antibody new drugs. Its headquarters is in Singapore and has a clinical development center in Houston, U.S.
Hummingbird is expected to be able to overcome the limitations of existing antibody development as it has optimal antibody excavation technology, a key element in the development of new antibody drugs.
In the meantime, the development of antibodies has been carried out by injecting antigen into animals to find the best antibody. As a result, it was difficult to create antibodies that selectively combine only certain parts of the antigen in a short time.
With the investment, SK Holdings will be able to expect synergy with its new drug development subsidiary SK Biopharm as well as its entry into the rapidly growing bio-medicine market.
Cenobamate, a new epilepsy drug independently developed by SK Biopharm, is set to be released in the U.S. market under the name of "Xcopri."
"We will continue to push for various global investments and open innovation to secure innovative technologies for bio and pharmaceutical products," said an official at SK Holdings.
