New CEO takes the helm at Samsung Biologics

John Rim

Samsung Biologics’ new chief executive John Rim officially took office on Wednesday, following the approval of the company’s board of directors on the same day.

Rim’s appointment marks the first change in the company's leadership in its 9-year history, following former CEO Kim Tae-han who headed Samsung's bio business since 2008, when it was just a task force, not a company.

“Over the next 10 years, Samsung Biologics will make a big leap to become the global No. 1 leader in all three business segments as a contract manufacturing organization [CMO], contract development organization [CDO] and contract research organization [CRO],” Rim said in an inauguration speech.

“In the longer term, we will grow into a global bio pharmaceutical company involved in all major businesses in the bio industry.”

Established 2011, the Samsung Group affiliate has grown as a CMO, which mass-produces drugs for large-scale Phase 3 clinical trials or market release based on a client’s recipe. The company is now a world-leading CMO in the bio pharmaceutical market with an annual CMO capacity of 364,000 liters.

Samsung is currently pushing efforts to expand its clients in its CDO and CRO businesses, which entails involvement and partnership with clients well before market release, from discovering antibodies to developing the substance for clinical trials.

The new CEO has 30 years of experience at Booz Allen Hamilton, Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical, Genentech and Roche after gaining an MBA degree at Northwestern University in 1985. He joined Samsung Biologics in 2018 and has headed the operation of Samsung’s Plant 3, the company’s largest.

“Our mission is not simply developing and producing products,” he added in Wednesday’s message. “It is to make pharmaceuticals that can save people and contribute to the health and development of humanity."

BY SONG KYOUNG-SON [song.kyoungson@joongang.co.kr]