Samsung Biologics signs W511b deal with Novartis

Samsung Biologics logo (Samsung Biologics)

Samsung Biologics said Monday the company has signed a 511 billion won ($390.9 million) deal with Novartis to manufacture products for the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical firm.

The latest deal follows a letter of intent that Samsung Biologics and Novartis signed in June last year. The two companies had originally agreed on a deal worth 100 billion won, but decided to amp up the investment, Samsung Biologics said.

Other details, including what kinds of products Samsung Biologics will produce at which plant, have not been disclosed.

With the latest contract, the combined value of Samsung Biologics' deals signed this year has reached around 2.3 trillion won, surpassing the 2 trillion won bar for the first time in the company's history.

Earlier this month, the South Korean contract manufacturer completed a 1.2 trillion won deal with Pfizer.

The combined value of the Novartis and Pfizer deals alone was 1.7 trillion won, almost that of last year's total at 1.78 trillion won.

“Samsung Biologics will be able to secure additional deals based on its increasing manufacturing capacity,” an industry source said.

With Samsung Biologics' fourth plant beginning operations in October, it has brought the company’s annual production capacity at all four plants to 604,000 liters.

The source added that while it is not known how much output the fourth plant has produced, it is expected that the company will be able to take on new orders with its fifth plant under construction.

In March, Samsung Biologics announced that it would inject some 1.98 trillion won to build its fifth plant. When the fifth plant, which will have a 180,000-liter production capacity, begins commercial operations in April 2025, it will boost the company's total manufacturing capacity to 784,000 liters.

Samsung Biologics has sought to secure deals for producing Alzheimer's drugs. Last month, CEO John Rim highlighted that the company hopes to secure new orders for them for its fifth plant, during a press conference for the BIO International Convention 2023.

“Samsung Biologics might be able to secure orders to produce novel Alzheimer's drugs in the near future, like Eisai and Biogen's Leqembi (lecanemab-irmb), which have recently won the coveted standard approval nod from the US Food and Drug Administration," the source added.

By Shim Woo-hyun(ws@heraldcorp.com)