Biosimilar CDMO Capacity Increased in Samsung Biologics – Pfizer’s New Arrangement

On June 8th, at the Bio conference in Boston, Samsung Biologics announced a long-term agreement with Pfizer that enlarges and extends a March $183M manufacturing deal between the two. This strategic collaboration will focus on long-term biosimilars manufacturing, and more specifically for the Pfizer biosimilars portfolio group; the agreement is estimated at an initial $411 million, according to a filing by the CDMO. To get to this point Samsung appears to have leveraged positive word of mouth from its partnership to produce COVID-19 vaccine material for Moderna.

According to a company press release, Samsung Biologics will provide Pfizer with additional capacity for large-scale manufacturing for a multi-product biosimilars portfolio covering oncology, inflammation, and immunology. Samsung will use its newest facility, Plant 4, for the manufacturing.

“We are pleased to extend the strategic collaboration with Pfizer as we share and support their strong vision to bring innovative solutions for patients around the globe,” said John Rim, president and CEO, Samsung Biologics, in the release. “This new meaningful partnership comes just as our Plant 4 is fully completed early this month as we had previously committed and are on the move for future expansion into our second campus in order to provide our clients with even more flexible and advanced manufacturing technology.”

“Our collaboration with Samsung Biologics will have the potential to significantly improve the lives of patients globally,” added Dong-Wook Oh, country manager, Pfizer Korea.

With the blockbuster Humira now open to biosimilar competition, that production application seems likely to be an early target. However, while biosimilar introductions have not drastically reduced prices as originally hoped, at least another seven Humira biosimilars are expected over the next few months and some could debut with heavily discounted prices. This includes Amgen’s Amjevita, Samsung’s [partnering with Bioepis/organon] Hadima, and Pfizer’s Abrilada. AbbVie has made more than $21 billion in Humira sales through 2021.

Samsung biologics also announced that the company will start operating its fifth plant in April 2025, five months earlier than its original schedule, in order to meet a rush of orders from global big pharma companies. Upon the plant's full completion, the company will have a biomanufacturing capacity totaling 784,000 liters.

Source: Samsung Biologics

Update: A report of finalized terms from July 3, 2023, disclosed that the two deals to manufacture Pfizer's multiproduct biosimilar portfolio are now worth a combined $897 million. The finalized terms on the June deal indicate that it alone is now worth approximately $704 million, making it the single-largest contract granted to Samsung Biologics. As of this latest update, the company has inked deals worth approximately $1.5 billion in 2023.