Similis Bio Partners With Novel351k to Develop Multiple Biosimilar Programs Targeting Cancer and Autoimmune Diseases
14.2.2023 15:00:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
JSR Life Sciences, LLC (“JSR”) today announced that Similis Bio (“Similis”), its business unit focused on biosimilar development, has announced plans to enter into a partnership with Novel351k to co-develop three biosimilar programs that address a wide range of hard-to-treat diseases. Under the initial agreement, Similis will be responsible for cell line development, analytics, process development, and cGMP production, leading to pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamic clinical trials. Novel351k will leverage its experience with regulatory and clinical strategies to accelerate the development of the programs toward commercialization.
“We launched Similis to make a wider selection of biosimilars available to patients, and we look forward to working with the Novel351k team on this important endeavor,” said John Gabrielson, JSR Life Science’s Senior Vice President and Head of Similis Bio. “This unique partnership combines Similis’ broad CMC expertise and Novel351k’s innovative clinical approach, underscoring our goal of accelerating the delivery of life-saving medicines to patients at lower costs.”
The companies anticipate that the partnership will progress to late-stage development activities and commercial manufacturing, pending a successful outcome of early-stage trials. The therapeutics developed under the partnership have a current annual market value exceeding $15B. The co-development agreement has a projected value of $100MM over more than ten years, including development milestones and royalties.
“Novel351k supports the adoption of groundbreaking scientific approaches to reduce redundant testing and to accelerate the development of biosimilars," said Sarfaraz Niazi, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Novel351k. “To that end, we aim to create a positive, measurable impact through our development and manufacturing model with world-class partners.”
Keara Sauber, CEO of Novel351k, shares with her team the excitement to push innovative partnership models forward to increase the accessibility of biosimilars globally. “This low-cost, fast-to-market strategy, combined with our CDMO partnerships and deep regulatory experience, is unique to the industry. We look forward to partnering with Similis Bio and JSR to support our goal of improving patients' lives worldwide.”
About Novel351k
Novel351k was founded on the principle of building an organization and culture focused on innovation to develop biosimilar drugs by driving the costs of drugs down through the healthcare spectrum. Novel351k’s strategy accelerates drug innovation, development, and commercialization by delivering affordable access to life-changing biologics while improving quality of life to patients. Additionally, Novel351k believes that strategically partnering with Similis Bio and JSR Life Sciences will be the cornerstone to successfully reduce the cost structures for developing biosimilars. Our partnership for the product development pipeline will deliver the next generation of world-class FDA-approved biosimilars. The highly accomplished Novel351k team with 100+ years of combined experience and active involvement with 10+ approved biosimilars has taken the lead for the advocacy of working with the FDA to streamline the regulatory process to shorten the biosimilar approval process.
About Similis Bio
JSR launched Similis Bio to mitigate the innate barriers to market entry for biosimilars and promote more productive development programs. Similis provides biosimilar drug developers with technology to accelerate development timelines and lower costs. By offering complete analytical and process development packages, Similis supplies companies with data to determine an appropriate biosimilar target and accelerate early program development. Data packages include reference product data, analytical procedures, process expertise, and CMC templates from a centralized model designed to give partners access to higher quality biosimilars at a lower cost than other development models.
About JSR Life Sciences, LLC
A business unit of JSR Corporation, JSR Life Science LLC is changing human health as a strategic partner and pathfinder for the life sciences industry. Rooted in a history of materials innovation, JSR LS provides specialized products, materials, and services to biopharmaceutical companies and academic researchers. Together with its world-class affiliates, JSR LS offers best-in-class integrated services designed to de-risk molecule selection, accelerate development timelines, increase clinical success rates, and develop novel in vitro diagnostics. JSR LS’s global network of affiliates includes Crown Bioscience, KBI Biopharma, Inc., Selexis SA, and MEDICAL & BIOLOGICAL LABORATORIES CO., LTD. The company operates R&D and applications labs, manufacturing facilities, and sales offices worldwide. For more information, visit JSRLifeSciences.com.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230214005036/en/
Contact information
JSR Life Sciences/Similis Bio
Missy Bindseil
JSR Life Sciences Company Inquiries
Director, Marketing & Communications
mbindseil@jsr-nahq.com
Laura Morgan
JSR Life Sciences Media Inquiries
Sam Brown Inc.
lauramorgan@sambrown.com
(951) 333-9110
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Vertex Presents New Data on ALYFTREK ® at European Cystic Fibrosis Conference5.6.2026 19:00:00 EEST | Press release
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced data demonstrating the potentially transformative impact of treating cystic fibrosis (CF) with ALYFTREK ® (vanzacaftor/tezacaftor/deutivacaftor) in children ages 2 to 5, as well as data from 96-week interim analyses of two open-label extension studies of ALYFTREK in children 6 to 11 years and people 12 years and older demonstrating the long-term safety and efficacy profile of the medicine. The data, presented at the European Cystic Fibrosis Conference, show children ages 2 to 5 with vanzacaftor/tezacaftor/deutivacaftor-responsive genotypes including those who are homozygous for the F508del mutation (F/F) and those who have F508del/minimal function mutations (F/MF)on ALYFTREK had further improvement in CFTR function from a TRIKAFTA ® baseline as measured by sweat chloride (SwCl), with 65% having achieved SwCl <30 mmol/L after treatment with ALYFTREK. Vertex also presented Phase 3 data of children ages 1 to <2 with TRIKAF
Owkin to Build AI Agents as Part of a Multi-Year K Pro Collaboration with Sanofi5.6.2026 14:00:00 EEST | Press release
Owkin, the agentic AI company pioneering Biological Artificial Superintelligence to transform drug discovery and development, today announced a multi-year collaboration with Sanofi to co-develop next-generation biopharma agents, to be backed by a five-year license for K Pro, Owkin’s AI Scientist. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260605704506/en/ K Pro, Owkin's AI scientist for biology, powered by multimodal patient data for smarter biopharma decision making. Owkin and Sanofi have collaborated since 2021 through a €90 million strategic partnership focused on target identification in oncology and patient subgrouping. The collaboration was later expanded to include drug positioning for Sanofi’s immunology pipeline. This new collaboration represents the next evolution in the partnership. During the five-year collaboration, Owkin will lead the end-to-end development of novel AI-driven biopharma agents purpose-built
DFNS Rebrands as the Core Banking Platform for Digital Assets5.6.2026 13:41:00 EEST | Press release
DFNS today announced a rebrand, marking its evolution from a wallet infrastructure to the first core banking platform for digital assets. The company is introducing a new logo, website, and market position as fintechs and institutions move their products and operations onchain. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260603859127/en/ Banks, fintechs, asset managers, trading firms, payment providers, market infrastructures, and clearing houses have stopped asking how to "add crypto." They're asking how to run financial products, controls, workflows, and client services on blockchain rails, with the reliability expected of core infrastructure. Some are going further still, exploring whether the blockchain can serve as the ledger itself, where an account is an onchain object rather than a row in a database. Where IBANs, virtual accounts, and blockchain wallets converge into one governed financial account. “DFNS was built
Compass Pathways Announces New Employee Inducement Grants Under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)5.6.2026 13:30:00 EEST | Press release
Compass Pathways plc (Nasdaq: CMPS), a biotechnology company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health, announced today that Compass granted equity awards under the Compass Pathways plc 2026 Inducement Plan to seventeen newly hired non-executive employees. The equity awards were granted on June 1, 2026 and consisted of options to purchase an aggregate of 157,000 shares and restricted share units or, in the case of employees in the United Kingdom nominal cost options, covering an aggregate of 74,700 shares. The options have an exercise price per share equal to $14.19, the closing price of the Company’s American Depositary Shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on the grant date, and will vest over a four-year period with 25% vesting on the first anniversary of the date of the grant and the remaining 75% vesting in equal monthly installments over the three-year period thereafter, subject to each employee’s continued employment. The restrict
Renewable Electricity, Soft Wheat Flour From Regenerative Agriculture, Initiatives to Support Local Communities: Barilla Shares These and Other Projects in “Stories of Sustainability.”5.6.2026 11:00:00 EEST | Press release
A slimmer Tagliatelle pack that saves 150 tons of cardboard and cuts transport-related CO₂ emissions by 20%1; ready-made sauce jars made with around 65% recycled glass; the progressive scaling of regenerative agriculture practices across Barilla’s value chain and initiatives supporting inclusion and equal opportunities across the Group’s production sites and communities. These are just some of the “sustainability” stories the Barilla Group is sharing on World Environment Day with the publication of its 2025 Sustainability Report. The report comes just after Barilla was named the world’s most reputable company in the food sector for the third year running and, for the first time, ranked among the global top 10 in the Global RepTrak 100 2026. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260603162436/en/ “The future of the planet will increasingly depend on our ability to spread culture and education,” says Paolo Barilla, Vic
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom