Merck & Co. Changes Tack on Biosimilars with Samsung Bioepis Collaboration

Merck & Co. has formed a partnership with Samsung Bioepis, a joint venture between Samsung Biologics and Biogen Idec, to develop and market multiple biosimilar candidates. Samsung Bioepis will assume responsibility for the development, manufacturing and registration of the biosimilars, while Merck will be responsible for commercialisation activities. The deal represents a change in strategy for Merck, which has faced a number of setbacks in the development of biosimilars in recent years and which integrated Merck BioVentures, its independent biosimilars unit, into the biologics and vaccines division of Merck Research Laboratories in 2012.