“Our plant 4 will have the world's largest biomanufacturing capacity”

Samsung Biologics, a fully integrated contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), offering state-of-the-art contract development, manufacturing, and laboratory testing services, has officially begun construction of its plant 4 in Incheon, South Korea. This is part of its long-term strategy to maximize its operational efficiency and scale up its development and manufacturing capabilities in response to growing biomanufacturing demands. In addition, the company has expanded its global footprint with opening of new San Francisco CDO R&D Center. BioSpectrum Asia reached out to Courtney Garcia, Senior Global PR Specialist, Samsung Biologics for further updates. Edited excerpts;

- Dr Manbeena Chawla

What are the major expansion plans in store and how much is being invested?

In the first half of this year alone, our company signed contracts valued at 1.7 trillion Korean won, which is over 2.5 times higher than the previous year’s total annual revenue. In response to the fast growing trend in the biopharmaceutical market and clients’ increasing demand for stable manufacturing and product supply, we have proactively made a decision to expand and invest in plant 4, which will have the world’s largest biomanufacturing capacity at a single site holding 256,000 liters, bringing the total capacity of this bio complex up to 620,000 liters upon completion.

We plan to build a second bio complex on an existing site as well. The land under negotiation for Samsung Biologics’ second bio complex is closely located to our current complex in Songdo, and is slightly larger at 330,000 square meters. We plan to create an Open Innovation Center to foster biotech companies in addition to securing space for future plants. We also announced back in February our plans to open our first CDO R&D lab abroad in San Francisco this year to widen our sales footprint and improve client proximity. Upon finalization of the terms under negotiation, the total investment is expected to be over 2 trillion won, roughly equivalent to $2 billion, and over the total amount invested in Samsung Biologics’ previous three plants combined throughout its nine-year history.

Courtney Garcia, Senior Global PR Specialist, Samsung Biologics, South Korea