Samsung Biologics to produce medicines worth 300 bn won on contract

Samsung Biologics made a public announcement on Monday that the company signed a letter of intent to produce two biomedicines and the total contract amount is about 300 billion won. With the new contract, the South Korean pharmaceutical company has obtained orders worth over one trillion won in the first half of this year, which is already higher than the total sales of last year or 710.5 billion won.

“We signed a letter of intent on Saturday to produce two biomedicines with a pharmaceutical company in Switzerland with the contract amount for each medicine being 43.25 billion won and 246.23 billion won,” said a member of Samsung Biologics on Monday. Detailed information about the other party was not revealed due to confidentiality. The counterparty and contract term will be revealed after December 31, 2023.

The 43.2-billion-won contract, which accounts for six percent of total sales last year, reflects the minimum amount, which could grow up to about 480 billion won if certain conditions on the contract are met by Samsung Biologics. The company plans to manufacture the medicines in the Songdo 3 plant located in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon.

Meanwhile, the 246.2-billion-won contract is a revised contract for the remaining volume of 457.9 billion won to be supplied in accordance with an existing contract signed prior to the company’s listing in the securities market. The new contract amount of 246.2 billion won accounts for 35.1 percent of total sales last year.

“The contract amount is binding in accordance with the mutual agreement and finalized details will be announced once the main contract is signed,” Samsung Biologics said via a public announcement on Monday.

Earlier in April, Samsung Biologics also signed a contract to produce a candidate substance to treat COVID-19, which is under development by U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Vir Biotechnology. The contract is worth 441.8 billion won, which is the largest amount for a single contract since Samsung Biologics went public in 2016.


Dong-Il Seo dong@donga.com