Open Innovation and global partnering are becoming one of the most frequent themes of bio conferences in South Korea and elsewhere. Scrip talked to global experts at the recent Bio Korea 2018 meeting about their views on the current climate and trends for open innovation in Asia, as well as some challenges and benefits in pursuing open innovation approaches with Asian companies.

Also, TapImmune merger with Marker could yield T-cell therapies that address multiple tumor-associated antigens with a better safety profile than CAR-T therapy. Bluebird and Medigene expand their TCR therapy collaboration.

With the recent completion of GMP manufacturing facilities and sizable funding, South Korean peptide therapeutics company Peptron is set to begin a Phase II clinical trial of sustained release exenatide for Parkinson’s, which if successful could pave the way to a first-in-class, disease-modifying treatment for the disease.

Samsung BioLogics shares plunge on suspicions it has violated accounting related to affiliate Samsung Bioepis, but the company says its accounting meets IFRS standards and denies any transgressions. Samsung BioLogics could face a penalty, depending on the outcome of upcoming financial authority meetings and whether Biogen exercises its call option on Samsung Bioepis in the coming months.

Following the signing of the Panmunjeom Declaration after their recent historic summit, North and South Korea are poised to resume economic cooperation, including projects in the healthcare sector, in line with an agreement the two sides reached in 2007. Although progress will likely depend on the upcoming summit between the US and North Korea and whether international sanctions are lifted, hopes over direct inter-Korean exchanges are brewing.