Korean companies make bigger mark at BIO USA as Chinese miss out

Industry

Published: 15 Jun. 2022, 11:47

Korean companies make bigger mark at BIO USA as Chinese miss out

WuXi Biologics' booth at the BIO International Convention 2022 in San Diego [SARAH CHEA]

SAN DIEGO — The BIO International Convention (BIO USA) 2022 may be a golden opportunity for Korean biopharmaceutical companies, as many Chinese firms were unable to attend the conference due to ongoing lockdowns in the country.

China has been imposing a stringent zero-Covid policy, shutting down cities in an attempt to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Around 30 Chinese biopharmaceutical companies are participating in the BIO USA this year, while a total of 255 Korean companies are present, including those that came just for business meetings without opening booths.

Korea is the second largest country in terms of the number of participating companies, following the United States.

"WuXi Biologics used to always have the largest and fanciest booth every year, but as you can see, it is very small this year," said Lee Seung-kyou, vice president of the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization. "It's Samsung Biologics who can benefit from this situation."

WuXi Biologics is a Beijing-based contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), which is often referred to as the rival of Samsung Biologics. WuXi generated $1.61 billion in revenue in 2021, while Samsung generated $1.2 billion.

WuXi Biologics has a 37.2-square-meter booth at the conference, while Samsung has 140 square meters. Samsung's is the largest independent booth in the entire exhibition hall.

In February, Wuxi Biologics was added to the "unverified list" by the U.S. Commerce Department, which requires U.S. exporters to go through more procedures before shipping goods to the entities.

"Wuxi has been making an aggressive investment in expanding its facilities and there have been setbacks for it to import bioreactors and biofilters from U.S. firms," said Kiwoom Securities analyst Heo Hye-min in a February report. "This will benefit Samsung Biologics in terms of gaining orders and increasing market share."

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