New $262.18 million contract with European client runs through end of 2033

Swiss client's contract extended one year to 2028, deepening Europe lock-in effect

Samsung Biologics' Plant 4. (Samsung Biologics)
Samsung Biologics' Plant 4. (Samsung Biologics)

Samsung Biologics has signed a large new biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing (CMO) deal worth about 350.8 billion won ($262 million) with a Europe-based pharmaceutical company. The deal could mark the start of a rebound in global orders in the second half of the year. Combined with an extension and increase to an existing contract with a Swiss client, the company's cumulative order total since its founding is now nearing $22 billion.

Samsung Biologics said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it signed a drug contract manufacturing deal worth 350.77 billion won ($262.18 million) with the European pharmaceutical company. The contract amount is equivalent to about 7.70 percent of the company's consolidated sales in its most recent fiscal year, 2025, which totaled 4.56 trillion won. The agreement runs from July 22, 2026, to Dec. 31, 2033 — a long-term supply deal spanning roughly seven years and five months. Samsung Biologics did not disclose the client or the specific product, citing confidentiality provisions.

Samsung Biologics said in a separate filing that it extended a drug contract manufacturing deal, originally signed in April 2018, with the Swiss subsidiary of a global pharmaceutical company. The extension pushed the contract's expiration from Dec. 31, 2027, to Dec. 31, 2028. At the client's request, the order volume also increased, raising the total contract value from $449.43 million to $457.14 million — an increase of $7.72 million.

With the latest order, Samsung Biologics' new orders this year have grown to 630.39 billion won ($451.14 million). Adding the $7.72 million increase to the existing contract disclosed the same day brings the total increase in orders this year to $458.86 million. As a result, the company's cumulative order total since its founding has climbed to about $21.97 billion, edging closer to the $22 billion mark.

Samsung Biologics posted record quarterly earnings in the second quarter of this year, with consolidated sales of 1.32 trillion won and operating profit of 586.4 billion won. The results were driven by full operation at Plants 1 through 4 and favorable exchange rates. The company also officially opened a European sales office in Amsterdam in the third quarter. The office rounds out a network of three key global sales hubs, alongside its offices in New Jersey and Tokyo. Attention now turns to whether the move will accelerate a fresh wave of large-scale orders centered on Europe.


silverpaper@heraldcorp.com