pharm edaily

Samsung Biologics’ Plant 4(Photo courtesy of Samsung Biologics)

[Song Young-doo, Edaily Reporter] Samsung Biologics, which has become the world’s largest contract development and manufacturing organization(CDMO), celebrates its 14th anniversary. This year, the company plans to accelerate its three-pronged expansion strategy centered on production capacity, portfolio, and global presence to continue its growth as a top-tier global biopharmaceutical company.

Samsung Biologics was established on April 21, 2011 in Songdo, Incheon. It was launched as part of Samsung Group’s efforts to actively pursue the biopharmaceutical business, one of its five next-generation growth engines.

Despite entering the global biopharmaceutical CDMO market as a latecomer, Samsung Biologics rapidly ascended to a leading position in the industry by securing production capacity quickly and leveraging strong quality competitiveness. Starting with just over 110 employees at the time of its founding, the company has grown to around 5,000 employees today.

Samsung Biologics currently holds a total production capacity of 784,000 liters, ranking No. 1 globally. Since its foundation, the company has received over 350 manufacturing approvals from global regulatory bodies and maintains one of the highest inspection pass rates in the industry.

With overwhelming production capacity and outstanding quality competitiveness, Samsung Biologics has earned high trust from global pharmaceutical companies. From its founding to the end of last year, the company secured 99 contract manufacturing(CMO) projects and 133 contract development(CDO) projects, with cumulative order volume reaching $16.3 billion.

In particular, last year Samsung Biologics signed three large-scale contracts worth around KRW 1 trillion each, reaching KRW 5 trillion in annual order volume for the first time. In January of this year, it achieved its largest single contract ever, worth KRW 2.0747 trillion. The company currently counts 17 of the world’s top 20 big pharma companies among its clients.

A Samsung Biologics employee inspects a bioreactor at Plant 4 (Photo courtesy of Samsung Biologics)

In 2020, just nine years after its founding, Samsung Biologics surpassed KRW 1 trillion in annual revenue. In 2022, it became the first company in Korea’s biopharma sector to exceed KRW 3 trillion in annual revenue, and surpassed KRW 4 trillion in 2024. This year, the company is expected to grow 20?25% year-over-year and exceed KRW 5 trillion.

Samsung Biologics plans to continue its growth by focusing on three major axes: production capacity, portfolio, and global presence.

Starting with Plant 5, the company plans to build three additional plants of similar size by 2032. Upon completion of Plant 8, Samsung Biologics’ total production capacity is expected to reach 1.324 million liters, maintaining its overwhelming competitiveness.

The company is also actively working on portfolio diversification to secure new growth engines. Last month, it began operating a dedicated facility for the production of antibody-drug conjugates(ADC), which are emerging as next generation cancer treatments. Samsung Biologics also plans to continue investing in new modalities such as cell and gene therapies(CGT).

Overseas expansion is also being actively pursued. The company operates business offices in New Jersey, USA, and Tokyo, Japan, strengthening its connections with major clients around the world.

Samsung Biologics is also leading the global biopharmaceutical industry in sustainable management, receiving high evaluations from domestic and international ESG rating agencies.

In February, the company received a “Leadership” rating one of the top tiers in the water resource management category from the Carbon Disclosure Project(CDP), a global sustainability rating agency. It has also been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index(DJSI World) for four consecutive years. CEO John Rim serves as the chair of the supply chain task force under the UK Royal Family’s Sustainable Markets Initiative, aimed at responding to climate change.

“Over the past 14 years, Samsung Biologics has led the CDMO market by providing the highest quality and services to global clients” said CEO John Rim. “We will continue to make proactive investments to enhance our competitiveness and work together as one team to realize our vision of contributing to a better life for humanity.”