VC firm Flagship forms tech and trials deal with Samsung

Life sciences venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering has struck a deal that will see Samsung support its companies’ drug development efforts.  

Under the agreement – which was announced at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference this week – Flagship-founded companies will have access to artificial intelligence, translational medicine, and Samsung's infrastructure.

The press release also states there will be “investment by Samsung in Flagship-founded companies,” details of which were not provided.

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Stephen Berenson, managing partner at Flagship Pioneering, told BioProcess Insider: “The collaboration we announced is rooted in a convergence of Samsung's complementary strengths, ranging from its strong electronics business, which has significant machine learning and AI capabilities, to clinical trials infrastructure and manufacturing capabilities.

“Flagship specializes in new modalities beyond small molecules or antibodies, which means that Samsung’s expertise in process development and manufacturing acumen are vital for our success in these new platforms.”

The new partnership is an expansion of the ongoing cooperation between Samsung and Flagship that is focused on life science technology, artificial intelligence, and CDMO services and extends across Flagship's ecosystem of companies.

As Jaywoo Kim, executive vice president of Samsung C&T said: “This newly formed collaboration is an important evolution of the ongoing relationship between two companies.

“We look forward to seeing the accelerating effect of Samsung's various technical expertise and extensive commercial capabilities on the future innovations Flagship and its ecosystem of companies will bring to market.”

The Samsung deal also comes hot on the heels of a November 2023 agreement with manufacturing and trial services firm, Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Under that deal, Thermo agreed to work with Flagship companies to “create new platform companies focusing on novel tools and capabilities that seek to power the biotech ecosystem and accelerate the development of first-in-class therapies.”

Flagship’s existing “ecosystem of companies” includes mRNA vaccine developer Moderna and programmable medicines firm Ampersand Biosciences.