Samsung Bio’s capacity seeds in full bloom as Novartis and Pfizer up deals

Big investments in biomanufacturing capacity are paying off for Samsung Biologics as it significantly increases production deals with Big Pharma clients.

Within the past two weeks, Samsung Biologics has announced major contract expansions with both Pfizer and Novartis.

Having inked a deal with Pfizer worth KRW 241 billion ($182 million) back in March, the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) revealed in a filing this has more than doubled to $375 million. A second contract focused on biosimilars worth $411 million announced in June has been scaled up to $704 million, making it the Korean firm’s largest contract to date.

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Swiss firm Novartis, meanwhile, inked a deal worth $81 million with the CDMO in May 2022 but this has now been expanded to $391 million. Specifics have not been divulged.

Pfizer and Novartis are not the only Big Pharma companies to have inked deals with Samsung Biologics. Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca,  Eli Lilly, and Moderna are among other named customers.

The mix of Big Pharma clients and the size of the deals reflect the gargantuan effort Samsung Biologics has put into becoming a top tier CDMO. The company was only conceived in 2011 but through heavy investment and rapid construction, the firm has three fully operational biomanufacturing facilities in Songdo, Incheon boasting 364,000 L of bioreactor capacity, plus a fourth ‘super’ facility that, when fully-operational, will add another 240,000 L of capacity.

Furthermore, plans have been laid for a fifth plant at a cost of KRW 1.98 trillion ($1.5 billion) located on a second biocampus in Songdo.

As Big Pharma firms moved away from dedicated large stainless-steel facilities to an outsourcing model, and as pipelines appeared to shift from large-scale multi-dose blockbusters to more personalized drugs targeting smaller patient populations, many CDMOs invested in small but flexible capacity; single-use systems, modular facilities, etc.

Samsung Biologics’ strategy from day one seemed to buck this trend, with an ambition to offer the space and capabilities to produce hundreds-of-thousands, or even millions, of doses for numerous bulk biologic products.

It seems Samsung Biologics may have taken direct inspiration therefore from the film Field of Dreams and the slightly misquoted: “If you build it, they will come.” The CDMO certainly has, and continues ‘to build it,’ and, as apparent with the increasingly lucrative contracts being won, Big Pharma is certainly coming.