Samsung Biologics unveils CFD simulation-based ADC process optimization technology
Lotte Biologics pushes dual-site partnerships on strength of FDA zero-observation record
China's WuXi and Japan's Fujifilm counter with large booths; Ministry of SMEs and Startups' K-Startup Bio pavilion draws multinational buyers
YOKOHAMA — The Pacifico Yokohama Convention Center buzzed with deal-making energy Wednesday as Bio Japan 2026 opened its doors, drawing global pharmaceutical giants and Asian biotech executives into a fierce contest for leadership in the Asia-Pacific biotech market. Asia's largest biotech trade fair since its founding in 1986, the event drew a packed crowd from its earliest hours, with contract manufacturing orders the talk of the floor.
Samsung Biologics drew a steady stream of visitors to its large standalone booth at the center of the exhibition hall, where a giant front-facing screen played footage highlighting next-generation bispecific antibody modalities and antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) manufacturing processes.
The booth's exterior featured a map connecting the company's Songdo headquarters in South Korea with its Tokyo office in Japan, alongside a slogan in Japanese positioning Samsung Biologics as "the closest integrated CDMO partner." The display emphasized real-time support across a shared time zone, a track record of more than 20 approvals from Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, and supply chain resilience built on geographic proximity — all aimed squarely at winning over Japanese clients.
James Choi, executive vice president of sales support at Samsung Biologics, took the stage at a morning technical seminar and said demand for contract development and manufacturing organizations was surging in Japan, driven by growing development activity in new modalities such as ADCs and peptides. "We will respond swiftly to rapidly changing customer needs through end-to-end services spanning contract research, development and manufacturing," he said.
Choi then announced plans to build a multi-modality plant at Songdo's third bio campus and to expand the company's reach through the acquisition of global peptide firm PolyPeptide Group, drawing the full attention of industry professionals filling the seminar hall.
Choi Yeon-jeong, a specialist in the new modality group, followed with a presentation on ADC manufacturing technology using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. "By precisely analyzing fluid flow and heat transfer, we have demonstrated that consistent conjugation quality can be maintained even when scaling up from a small laboratory to large-scale commercial production," she said, highlighting the company's manufacturing quality control capabilities.
Lotte Biologics also set up a standalone booth, welcoming global buyers with a striking design in deep red and black.
A banner across the top of the booth read: "Trusted Partner Built Around You."
The exterior walls led with the slogan "From Early Clinical to Commercial with Confidence" and prominently displayed verified quality metrics: zero observations in FDA inspections, a 98 percent batch success rate, and a record of more than 1,300 commercial releases.
At consultation tables inside the booth, partnering meetings ran continuously with global clients showing interest in the company's dual-site model linking its factory in Syracuse, in the United States, with its Songdo Plant 1, which is set for a completion ceremony in November.
Competition from global rivals was fierce. Directly across from the Samsung Biologics booth, WuXi AppTec — a China-based global CDMO — and its oligonucleotide and peptide-focused platform WuXi TIDES had set up booths of their own to compete for contracts. Japan's Fujifilm also ran consultations, leading with a peptide discovery platform built on mRNA display technology.
Meanwhile, the K-Startup Bio joint pavilion, organized by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Toxicology, drew a steady flow of buyers from multinational pharmaceutical companies scouting for innovative technologies, keeping the Korea-Japan cooperation seminar and consultation desks busy throughout the day.
silverpaper@heraldcorp.com
