Samsung Biologics touted what it called an “exceptional” performance in 2023 despite an industrywide slowdown. In the fourth quarter, the Korean CDMO grew sales by 11% to 1.07 trillion Korean won ($802 million), pushing the full-year growth rate to 23.1%. Further, the company amassed contracts worth over $12 billion through expanded partnerships with 14 of the top 20 global pharma companies. 4. Samsung allotting ‘significant investment’ to bring noninvasive glucose sensor to wearables: Bloomberg Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics is working on noninvasive blood sugar monitoring for its Galaxy family of consumer devices, Hon Pak, M.D., head of the company’s digital health division, said. Samsung’s rival, Apple, is also trying to achieve a breakthrough in the same field. Pak also talked about the possibility of adding continuous cuffless blood pressure monitoring to Samsung’s wearables. 5. Glenmark bags subcutaneous checkpoint inhibitor, moving to turf targeted by Big Pharma
6. Gene therapy with dual viral vector restores hearing in children with hereditary deafness (release) A new study in China showed that a gene therapy restored hearing in five of six children with a form of deafness caused by mutations of the OTOF gene. The children showed a 40 to 57 decibel reduction in the auditory brainstem response testing after 26 weeks, according to results published in The Lancet. The therapy belongs to Refreshgene Therapeutics in Shanghai, and it utilizes a dual-AAV viral vector to deliver a functional OTOF gene. 8. Saudi Arabia launches plan to become biotech hub by 2040