Samsung BioLogics CEO Kim Tae-han speaks during an online press conference on Oct. 29. Kim said that the biopharmaceutical company had opened its first overseas research lab in San Francisco. Photo courtesy of Samsung BioLogics

Biopharmaceutical giant to focus on CDO business

Samsung BioLogics, a biopharmaceutical affiliate of South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group, launched its first overseas research and development center in San Francisco on Oct. 29.

The Incheon-based outfit, west of Seoul, said that the research unit is designed to strengthen its contract development organization (CDO) business down the road.

Thus far, Samsung BioLogics has grown as a contract manufacturing organization (CMO), which serves other companies on a contract basis to churn out large quantities of drug candidates or drugs.

In comparison, a CDO takes charge of developing drugs, filing its applications to health authorities, and beginning their clinical tests.

Samsung BioLogics is otherwise called a contract research organization (CRO) because it provides research services outsourced on a contract basis.

“Upside of 2,500 life science outfits are located in San Francisco. In other words, it is a hotbed of the biopharmaceutical business,” Samsung BioLogics CEO Kim Tae-han said during an online press conference.

“We have become a CMO champion this year. The San Francisco lab will be the first step in achieving our goal of topping the podium in the CDO industry in five years.”

Kim explained that its CDO business is already making money in Korea, and based on its research efforts, Samsung BioLogics vies to turn a profit in the global CDO business in a couple of years.

Since 2018, Samsung BioLogics has scored more than 60 CDO contracts. Some of its drugs are set to go through clinical tests after gaining the green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency.
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