According to Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea,

South Korea has become unquestionable powerhouse in biologics contract manufacturing as Korean names have become responsible for global supplies of four Covid-19 vaccines available.

Samsung Biologics’ fill-finish service to Moderna vaccine is added to the existing pipeline - SK Bioscience behind AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines and Korus Pharm and Huons Global consortiums behind Russia’s Sputnik V.

Samsung Biologics shares gained 0.46 percent and SK Bioscience 1.55 percent in early Monday trading due to weekend confirmation on their deals with U.S. vaccine makers.

Korean CMOs have been approached by vaccine developers as they have preemptively achieved economies of scale.

Samsung Biologics runs three plants with a combined capacity of 364,000 liters. When its fourth whose construction began last year is added, the company’s total production capacity will surge to 620,000 liters, the largest CMO in the world. Samsung Biologics already rolls out a Covid-19 antibody therapy for Eli Lilly and GSK. Korean biosimilar developer Celltrion is also considering contract manufacturing for its Covid-19 cure Rekirona as its own plant alone cannot meet the growing demand. Celltrion founder Seo Jung-jin said a CMO option is under discussion for emergency production for a possible situation where demand exceeds supply.

A growing number of Korean pharmaceutical companies are adding CMO business for a high return of investment. GC Pharma was the first Korean pharmaceutical company to add CMO to its portfolio. GC Pharma signed an agreement for business cooperation with smaller CMO firm Binex in January. The two expect synergy from GC Pharma’s production of finished products such as vials and prefilled syringes and Binex’s CDMO for biologics. GC Pharma also joined hands with local CMO company DM Bio for its role in CMO business.

Dong-A Socio Group’s subsidiary ST Phrm is reinforcing CDMO of mRNA therapeutics and APIs for oligo treatments. The company is conducting 20 CDMO projects related to blood cancer, cardiovascular disease and Huntington’s disease among others.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical is another Korean drug company engaged in CDMO business. It jumped into the market early this year after regulatory permission of its manufacturing of advanced biologics such as cell therapies.

According to market research firm EvaluatePharma, the global CMO market grew from $13.3 billion in 2019 to $15.4 billion last year. In 2025, it is projected to reach $30.3 billion with an annual average growth of 13.7 percent.



By Kim Byung-ho, Han Jae-beom and Minu Kim

Copyrights Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea. All Rights Reserved.

Source: Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea (May 24, 2021)