Record Broken Again in Three Months After July's 1.5 Trillion
Annual Cumulative Orders Also Surpass 4 Trillion Won
Samsung Biologics has signed its largest-ever contract for contract manufacturing organization (CMO) services, valued at $1.24256 billion (approximately 1.7028 trillion KRW). This single deal accounts for nearly half of last year's total order amount of 3.5 trillion KRW.
On the 22nd, Samsung Biologics announced that it had signed this CMO contract with a pharmaceutical company based in Asia. The contract spans 13 years, lasting until the end of 2037. However, the client and product names have not been disclosed due to confidentiality agreements.
Samsung Biologics had previously set its largest single contract record in July with a $1.06 billion (approximately 1.4637 trillion KRW) deal with a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company. Just over three months later, it has surpassed that record with this new largest contract. The annual order amount has also exceeded 4 trillion KRW for the first time ever. This year, Samsung Biologics has publicly announced a total of nine contracts, with a combined order value of 4.3618 trillion KRW. This represents a 24.6% growth compared to last year's order volume in just over ten months. Since its founding, the company’s cumulative order value has surpassed $15.4 billion (approximately 21 trillion KRW).
As of 2018, Samsung Biologics had only three clients among the top 20 global big pharma companies by market capitalization. Now, it has secured 17 clients including Pfizer, AstraZeneca (AZ), Janssen, Eli Lilly, MSD, Roche, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). This growth is attributed to CEO John Rim’s strong global network, built over 30 years working at big pharma companies such as Roche, Genentech, and Astellas. The company has focused on efficiently producing antibody drugs that have reached large-scale commercial production stages, actively responding to client demands, which has proven to be an effective strategy.
In particular, Samsung Biologics is continuously expanding its production capacity to proactively meet the increasing demand for biopharmaceuticals. Currently, it holds the largest production capacity among global leading contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) at 604,000 liters. With the completion of its 5th plant, currently under construction and scheduled to start operations in April next year with a capacity of 180,000 liters, the total production capacity will increase to 784,000 liters, securing a significant production gap. Furthermore, the company plans to build 6th to 8th plants by 2032, increasing capacity to 1,324,000 liters. Additionally, it is reportedly considering the commencement of a 3rd bio campus.
This year, Samsung Biologics plans to enter the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) market, a global trend leading the oncology drug sector. It will complete an ADC-dedicated production facility in Songdo, Incheon within the year. Through the Samsung Life Science Fund, formed together with Samsung C&T and Samsung Bioepis, the company has invested in Swiss Araris and Korea’s AimedBio, providing customers with a 'toolbox' that offers diverse options for antibodies, linkers, and cytotoxic drugs.
Not only in production capacity but also in quality, as of last month, Samsung Biologics has obtained a total of 326 manufacturing approvals from global regulatory agencies, including 39 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and 34 from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), achieving a 99% batch success rate. This demonstrates outstanding quality competitiveness throughout the entire pharmaceutical manufacturing and management process, securing numerous successful track records. The company stated, "With the expansion of production capacity and increase in orders, the number of approvals is growing annually," and added, "We maintain the industry's highest level of regulatory inspection pass rates."
Meanwhile, Samsung Biologics has been actively promoting its competitiveness and strengthening business networking and order activities by attending major pharmaceutical and biotech industry conferences held globally in the U.S., Europe, and Asia this year. These include the 'BIO International Convention (BIO USA)' held in San Diego, California in June, the 'International Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Exhibition (CPHI Worldwide 2024)' held in Milan, Italy this month, and 'Bio Japan 2024' held in Yokohama, Japan, where active order discussions took place. In terms of expanding its global footprint, the company plans to open a sales office in Tokyo, Japan, to further strengthen cooperation with clients.
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