Two years after burgeoning CDMO powerhouse Samsung Biologics signed on to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines for Moderna, the Korean company has made a deal with the world’s other leading mRNA vaccine producer, Pfizer.
What’s not clear however, is whether Samsung will make COVID vaccines for Pfizer.
Samsung revealed the deal in a regulatory filing. The value of the contract is 241 billion won ($183 million) and it runs through 2029. Companies listed on the Korea stock exchange are required to report contracts that exceed 5% of their sales from the previous year. This deal is worth 15% of Samsung’s 1.57 trillion won ($1.2 billion) revenue from fiscal year 2021.
Both companies responded to a request for more information but provided no further details.
It is the first time the companies have partnered up. In 2021, the companies denied a report that Samsung would manufacture COVID-19 shots for Pfizer.
Pfizer becomes the seventh top-10 biopharma company to partner with Samsung Bio. Five months ago, Samsung made a $296 million deal with GSK, expanding on a previous agreement. Again, no details were provided on what the CDMO would provide.
Two months ago at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Samsung CEO John Rim said the company’s next major area of expansion would be into the manufacture of antibody-drug conjugates. At Samsung’s sprawling complex in Incheon, ADC manufacturing is expected to be ready within next year.