Plant 5 will hold a manufacturing capacity of 180,000 liters, expanding the company’s total site capacity to 784,000 liters upon its completion and reaffirming its position as the world’s largest CDMO. Samsung Biologics expects that the KRW 1.9 trillion ($1.5bn) plant will begin operations in 2025.
Cell and gene therapies and next-gen vaccines
The Korean end-to-end CDMO bought nearby land for the second Bio Campus last year, which at 357,366 square meters is 30% larger than the company’s first campus.
Located near its current Songdo site, Plant 5 – which will offer multi-modal product services for cell and gene therapies and next-generation vaccines using mRNA, pDNA and viral vectors - will be the first facility on the new site, encompassing an area of 96,000m.2 Samsung envisions a future Plant 6 will follow in the future, earmarking a KRW 7.5 trillion overall investment in the site.
“Given the continuing increase in the demand for outsourced manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals, we are proactively making this investment in alignment with our growth strategy to further strengthen our standing as a leading CDMO,” said John Rim, President and CEO of Samsung Biologics.
“The new facility will enable us to provide our customers with even greater innovation and services that will increase speed to market and flexibility.”
Samsung says the plant will further maximize operational efficiency, allowing the company to leverage existing capabilities, expertise and technologies acquired through its experience with Plants 1 through 4, while introducing advanced digitalization and sustainability features.
Global growth plans
In 2022, Samsung reported revenue of KRW 2.44 trillion ($1.9bn) on a standalone basis, an increase of 55% on the prior year. This year, it plans to continue growth with a three-pronged strategy of expansions in capacity, geography and portfolio.
In particular, it plans to enter its business into antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and cell and gene therapy (CGT), aiming to become a ‘global top tier biopharmaceutical company by 2030’.
The company’s existing Plants 1 through 3 are under near-full utilization and its Plant 4, which started partial operations in October last year, is expected to commence full operations by midyear. Plant 4 will house the company’s first ADC manufacturing suite, set to start operations in the first quarter of 2024.
Samsung Biologics is also enhancing its presence in the US with the opening of a regional office in New Jersey this week.
