Samsung Super Plant to Supply AstraZeneca
Korean CMO Samsung Biologics has signed on with AstraZeneca to support the UK drugmaker’s biologics therapeutics. The company will produce bulk drug substance and drug product for its customer at its new $2 billion Plant 3 facility in Incheon, South Korea, set to go on stream in 2022.
In August, the Samsung offshoot revealed plans for the new facility. Touted as a “super plant” in pharma circles, it will add 256,000 liters to the CMO's working capacity, nearly doubling output capacity to 620,000 liters.
The supply pact with AstraZeneca is valued at $331 million and can be expanded to $546 million, the companies said. In Samsung’s words, the collaboration will help "accelerate Korean bio-health innovation.”
In April, Samsung Biologics inked a $362 million deal with Vir Biotechnology to help scale manufacturing of the biotech's monoclonal antibody program as a potential treatment for Covid-19. For this project, Samsung plans to start its first engineering run this month and potentially start producing commercial batches starting in 2021.
In May, the Korean biotech agreed an eight-year, $231 million contract with GlaxoSmithKline to ramp up production of that company’s lupus drug Benlysta. Commercial doses of the drug are due to be rolled out in 2022. The partners plan to eventually expand the agreement to other GSK specialty-care products.
Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist
