On a revised dealmaking spree this year, Korea’s Samsung Biologics is re-tooling its long-running drug manufacturing pact with Baxter Healthcare.
The retooled deal, first established back in July of 2017, will now see Baxter pay Samsung upwards of $223 million for its manufacturing services through end of 2034. Previously, Baxter was on the hook to pay just $15 million for Samsung’s production assistance.
The update to the accord reveals Baxter as the subject of Samsung’s 2017 production tie-up. At the time the deal was announced, the company was keeping the identity of its client under wraps, Korea Biomedical Review reports.
It isn’t immediately clear what types of drugs or products Samsung will help produce for Baxter under the contract manufacturing agreement.
The total $223-million price tag on the deal represents a whopping 85.2% of Samsung Bio’s 2023 revenue, Korea Biomedical Review added, pointing out that the CDMO has so far inked five contracts with global drugmakers for a cumulative order of more than 1.1 trillion won (about $792 million) in 2024.
Back in March, Samsung Bio and Belgium’s UCB expanded their seven-year partnership with a new drug substance manufacturing deal worth 382 billion Korean won ($288 million).
That deal built on an existing $42 million contract between the partners signed in 2017, with the reworked pact running through the end of 2030.
Then, in April, Samsung Bio upgraded a $71 million supply agreement with Merck & Co., with the updated deal now worth $188 million and ending on Dec. 31, 2032.
In May, the company made a similar move with Eli Lilly, teeing up a manufacturing agreement to run until the end of 2029 for a total reworked deal value of $479 million.
Samsung Bio has been on a roll lately, recently announcing an earnings high of 946.9 billion won ($690 million) for the first three months of 2024.
The CDMO credited its growth on the operation of its Plant 4 facility, plus growing sales from its biosimilar affiliate Samsung Bioepis. The company also said that as Plant 4 operations begin to expand, they will drive quarterly growth at a projected 10% to 15% annual revenue increase for 2024.
Meanwhile, Samsung Bio is hard at work kitting out its upcoming Plant 5, which is expected to wrap up construction in April 2025. The company is also building an antibody-drug conjugate facility that it expects to get up and running by year-end.
