Samsung Biologics wins another Eli Lilly COVID treatment order

Samsung Biologics Co., a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has stepped up its partnerships with global big pharmas by extending contracts and winning increased orders.

The South Korean drugmaker signed a contract with US-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company to supply COVID-19 treatment worth 141.6 billion won ($119.4 million). The new contract extended the two companies’ former contract signed in July 2020, which was worth 179.5 billion won.

Samsung Biologics has signed additional contracts for a combined worth of 863.1 billion won so far this year with a total of eight global pharmaceutical companies including big names such as Roche Holdings AG, AstraZeneca plc and Gilead Sciences Inc. Backed by the additional contracts, Samsung Biologics’ cumulative orders until the third quarter of 2021 have reached 8.3 trillion won, marking a 15.8% increase from 7.2 trillion won during the same period of 2020. The orders for the first three quarters each year from 2017 to 2019 remained around only 3.5 trillion won.

The company credits its speedy manufacturing process for its competitive edge. Thanks to halving the technology transfer period, the Korean pharmaceutical manufacturer has taken only five months from the signing of the contract to the initial production of Eli Lilly’s COVID-19 treatment.

“We quickly respond to our clients’ orders, and the rapid increase in our production volume proves the global big pharmas’ strong trust in us,” said a Samsung Biologics official.


Write to Jae-young Han at jyhan@hankyung.com
Jihyun Kim edited this article.