Samba Signs 1.2 Trillion KRW CMO Contract with Pfizer... Aiming for Over 2 Trillion KRW Annual Orders in Half a Year

Never Exceeded 2 Trillion Won in Annual Orders
Annual Order Amount Expected to Set a New Record

Samsung Biologics added $897 million (approximately 1.177 trillion KRW) in orders in a single day, making the achievement of an annual order volume of 2 trillion KRW visible within just half a year. Since Samsung Biologics has never exceeded 2 trillion KRW in annual orders based on the Korean won, this continuous growth trend appears to be gaining further momentum.

Samsung Biologics increased its contract with Pfizer Ireland, originally signed in March for $183 million (approximately 241 billion KRW), by $193 million (approximately 254.3 billion KRW), expanding the total to $375.44 million. Additionally, the letter of intent (LOI) signed on the 7th of last month for $411.4 million (approximately 535 billion KRW) was expanded about 1.7 times to $703.9 million (approximately 922.7 billion KRW), and the final contract was signed, as disclosed on the 4th. With these two contracts combined, Samsung Biologics succeeded in signing a total of $1.08 billion (approximately 1.418 trillion KRW) in contracts with Pfizer this year alone.

Notably, the $703.9 million contract is the largest single contract in Samsung Biologics' history. Furthermore, the contract period extends until the end of 2029, spanning six and a half years, which is expected to significantly contribute to securing stable plant utilization in the future. Regarding this contract, Samsung Biologics explained, "We signed a contract for contract manufacturing of one product in March, and under this final contract, we plan to manufacture Pfizer's multi-product biosimilar (biopharmaceutical generic) portfolio, including oncology, inflammation, and immunotherapy products, at the recently completed Plant 4 on a long-term basis until 2029."

John Rim, CEO of Samsung Biologics, is speaking at a press conference held last month in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
[Photo by Lee Chunhee]

Pfizer holds the largest biosimilar portfolio, having received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a total of eight biosimilars. With the recent opening of the U.S. Humira biosimilar market, Pfizer has expressed its intention to participate through the biosimilar 'Abrilada.' As various blockbuster patents are set to expire in the coming years, Pfizer is believed to have signed this contract with Samsung Biologics to secure a stable production base for participation in the biosimilar competition. Samsung Biologics also commented, "Unlike previous single-product manufacturing contracts, this contract involves the long-term production of a customer’s product portfolio consisting of multiple products. It signifies a significant expansion of strategic partnerships with global top pharmaceutical clients."

A bird's-eye view of Samsung Biologics' 2nd Bio Campus in Songdo, Incheon. Starting with the 5th plant, which has a production capacity of 180,000 liters and is scheduled for completion in 2025, the plan is to complete four more plants of the same scale by 2032, adding a total production capacity of 720,000 liters.
[Photo by Samsung Biologics]

Samsung Biologics surpassed $10 billion (approximately 13 trillion KRW) in cumulative orders since its founding during the Bio International Convention (BIO USA) in June, and this large-scale contract further accelerates its order growth. The cumulative order volume for this year, including this contract, amounts to $1.488 billion (approximately 1.9335 trillion KRW). With only about half a year elapsed, the previous annual order record of $1.655 billion (approximately 1.9374 trillion KRW) set in 2020 is now within reach.

On the client side, Samsung Biologics continues to secure customers among the global top 20 pharmaceutical companies, which was set as an annual goal for this year. In 2018, only three of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies were clients of Samsung Biologics. Recently, with the addition of one more company (contract counterpart undisclosed), Samsung Biologics has successfully secured a total of 13 clients, including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Eli Lilly, Merck (MSD), Roche, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

As the pace of orders accelerates, Samsung Biologics began full operation of Plant 4 last month and is focusing all efforts on strengthening contract manufacturing organization (CMO) production capacity, including advancing the planned operation date of Plant 5 from September 30, 2025, to April 1, 2025, about six months earlier. Since the production capacity of Plant 4 has reached its limit due to continuous orders, Samsung Biologics plans to leverage its capability of continuously breaking the industry's shortest construction period records through a 'speed race' to accelerate the construction speed of Plant 5. Currently, with a capacity of 604,000 liters, Samsung Biologics overwhelms competitors such as Lonza and Boehringer Ingelheim, but it plans to further expand by completing the second Bio Campus, starting with Plant 5, by 2032 to secure an additional total production capacity of 720,000 liters.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.