Samsung Biologics lures visitors at BIO USA with reputation and prizes

Industry

Published: 15 Jun. 2022, 11:27

Samsung Biologics lures visitors at BIO USA with reputation and prizes

Visitors crowd Samsung Biologics’ booth at the BIO International Convention (BIO USA) 2022 held in San Diego Monday. [SARAH CHEA]

SAN DIEGO — Of more than a thousand booths at the BIO International Convention (BIO USA), Samsung Biologics' is especially lively with lots of visitors crowding the entrance Monday.

It is one of the busiest booths in the entire exhibition hall, which may be in part because of the lottery dart game the company is running offering visitors a chance to win a prize such as a Galaxy Z Flip 3, Galaxy Watch or Buds.

The 140-square-meter (1,507-square-foot) booth is the largest independent booth at the event, Samsung said, with Tokyo-based Fujifilm running two smaller booths right next to it.

Two virtual reality headsets are on display for people to use to take a look at the company's third plant, the largest of its kind in the world.

Samsung Biologics is one of around 20 entities from Korea participating in the BIO USA 2O22. Often called the CES of biopharmaceuticals, it is the first to be held with in-person participation in three years.

It has drawn more than 1,140 international exhibitors and 15,000 experts are estimated to visit from all over the world. The event runs until Thursday.

The Songdo, Incheon-based company is mainly promoting its No. 1 ranking in the global contract manufacturing and development (CDMO) industry, in a bid to attract more potential customers.

A visitor participates in a virtual reality program to look at Samsung Biologics’ third manufacturing plant in the company’s booth at the BIO USA 2022 Tuesday. [SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS]

“Samsung Biologics already beat other rivals in terms of capacity,” James Choi, head of the Samsung Biologics global information and marketing center said.

Samsung Biologics currently has three plants in Songdo and is building a fourth. Once completed, it will increase production capacity to 620,000 liters, which Samsung says is equivalent to nearly 30 percent of the global contract manufacturing capacity for biopharmaceuticals, beating Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim and Switzerland-based Lonza.

Partial operation of the fourth plant will start in October, and Samsung Biologics has already signed deals for five products with three global pharmaceutical companies and is in talks with 20 more firms for 30 additional drugs.

“Samsung Biologics is a highly recognized company in the market, and perhaps we could seek a partnership with Samsung in the future, maybe in a few years later,” Sergio Valentinotti Marelli, director at the life science department at Laboratorios Liomont, told the Korea JoongAng Daily during his visit to the booth.

Three meeting rooms have been set up in the booth and Samsung has received over 200 meeting requests from various firms and investors.

Samsung Biologics counts major global companies as its customers, including AstraZeneca, Moderna, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Eli Lilly.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]