Samsung BioLogics said it has signed a deal with U.S. biotech firm CytoDyn to manufacture investigational HIV treatment leronlimab at its headquarters in Songdo, Incheon, on Thursday.

Samsung BioLogics CEO Kim Tae-han (left) and CytoDyn CEO Nader Pourhassan hold up their agreement, at Samsung BioLogics' headquarters in Songdo, Incheon, Thursday.

The deal, publicly disclosed in early April, is worth at least $31 million. The amount may increase up to $246 million by 2027 if CytoDyn successfully develops the drug into a product and starts commercialization.

Based in the Washington State, CytoDyn develops medicines for AIDS and cancer. Earlier, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted leronlimab a fast track designation. CytoDyn has completed the phase-3 clinical trials on leronlimab and is now proceeding with the drug’s FDA registration.

The two companies had a signing ceremony and a two-hour tour of the Samsung BioLogics campus.

“We are excited to work with Samsung BioLogics, one of the world's best CMO (contract manufacturing organization) firms, for a longer-term relationship for new drug development,” CytoDyn CEO Nader Pourhassan said. “Through Samsung BioLogics’ high level of quality assurance, capacity, and cost effectiveness, we expect that we will be able to market our new drug quickly following an expected approval."

Samsung BioLogics CEO Kim Tae-han said he would do his best to help release DytoDyn’s HIV drug so that AIDS patients around the world can receive the new treatment.

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