Samsung Biologics has signed a manufacturing contract worth 1.46 trillion won ($1.06 billion) with an unnamed “large” US pharmaceutical company, making this at least the fourth major contract the manufacturer has signed this year.
The new deal is a notable win for the South Korea-based manufacturer in that it accounts for nearly 40% of its total sales for 2023, which was about 3.7 trillion won ($2.8 billion), according to a public disclosure posted Tuesday. To add further context, the company’s 2023 revenue was already considered “exceptional” as it was one of the few CDMOs that was able to report gains despite last year’s biopharma downturn.
A Letter of Intent was signed between Samsung Bio and the unnamed company on June 5, with the contract running until the end of 2030. The company and the type of manufacturing involved are undisclosed due to “business confidentiality.”
Last month, Samsung Bio expanded its deal with Baxter Healthcare, gaining an extra $208 million to manufacture drug products until the end of 2034. Samsung Bio has also expanded contracts with Eli Lilly in May and with Merck in April this year.
In September last year, the manufacturer also expanded a contract with Bristol Myers Squibb to manufacture a cancer antibody at Plant 4. Three months prior, Pfizer also tapped the company for its services at the same site in a contract worth $411 million.
As Samsung Bio continues to snap up contracts, the company is focused on ramping up its manufacturing footprint as a new ADC site is expected to come online sometime this year and another site, dubbed Plant 5, will be operational in April 2025.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to correct that the deal is worth 1.46 trillion won, not 1.46 billion won.