AstraZeneca and Samsung Biologics partner up in $330m manufacturing and supply deal

AstraZeneca has announced a new global manufacturing and supply partnership with Samsung Biologics, said to be worth a potential $330.8 million.

As part of the deal, Samsung will offer its South Korea-based Plant 3 manufacturing facility to support large-scale drug substance production in support of AZ’s biologics portfolio. The plant, based in Incheon, is the largest single biomanufacturing facility in the world since opening in 2018. 

For AZ, the partnership allows for an expansion of its manufacturing operations into Asia Pacific, and the company claims it will also “accelerate bio-health innovation” in South Korea.

Besides this, few details were revealed on the nature of the partnership, though it was noted that there was potential for the deal to be expanded to a value of $545.6 million in future.

Samsung Biologics CEO Dr Tae Han Kim said the company was “very proud” to be syncing up with AZ under the deal, while the latter firm’s Executive Vice President of Global Operations and IT, Pam Cheng, said the partnership “strengthens our manufacturing capabilities, and ensures we are well-positioned to continue to deliver our exciting portfolio of new and established biologics medicines to patients with quality, speed and efficiency."

Matt Fellows