A biotech founder in Singapore wakes up today with a very different inbox.
Because Samsung just opened a door most early-stage scientists only dream about.
Not a grant.
Not a vague "let's talk" email.
A full-blown lab. Mentors. And a direct line into one of Asia's biggest biopharma machines.
ATLATL Innovation Center and Samsung Bioepis launched the Samsung Bioepis Innovation Prize — C-Lab Outside today in Shanghai.
Applications? Open from June 25, 2026.
Target? Early-stage biotech startups across the entire Asia-Pacific region.
They're hunting for founders working on three of the hardest problems in modern medicine:
And within those, they want the spicy stuff:
Translation: if you're tinkering with the future of how drugs actually work, they want to see you.
Most biotech founders die in the same valley.
Great science. No lab. No mentors. No partners. No money.
Dr. PC Zhu, ATLATL's founder, said it bluntly:
"Great science alone does not create successful biotech companies."
Winners of this prize get:
That last one is the real prize.
This isn't a one-off PR moment.
Samsung has been quietly building a serious open-innovation web — C-Lab Outside has already linked up with players like Eli Lilly's biotech incubator at BIO Korea 2026.
Now it's reaching into Greater China and Southeast Asia.
Min Jeong Seo, VP of Open Innovation at Samsung Bioepis, framed it simply:
"Innovation thrives when visionary science is matched with the right support."
The APAC biotech race just got a new accelerant.
Samsung isn't just making biosimilars anymore.
It's becoming the front door for the next wave of Asian biotech founders.
And somewhere in Shanghai, Seoul, or Singapore — a two-person startup with a wild ADC idea is about to hit submit.
That application might just become the next billion-dollar therapy.
That's all for now!
