From Nov. 1 to 3, representatives from across the pharmaceutical industry gathered in Frankfurt, Germany, for the 2022 CPHI Worldwide Conference. More than 40,000 health care professionals from over 2,500 pharmaceutical companies and 170 countries attended the conference that focuses on pharmaceutical ingredients, with sessions and booths dedicated to innovation in the industry and key trends affecting the pharmaceuticals market. Samsung Biologics, one of the world’s largest contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), used the event to launch its new “Accelerating Excellence” motto, which emphasizes its core strength in client-focused biopharmaceutical manufacturing partnerships.
The CDMO debuted the slogan at one of the largest booths at the event, displaying its progress on its multidimensional growth strategy of expanding manufacturing capacity, diversifying its portfolio, and growing its global footprint. Samsung Biologics also hosted several events at the conference, including presentations from scientists and executives and a luncheon networking session that showcased the newly constructed Plant 4’s capabilities to accelerate the manufacture of monoclonal antibodies and other biologics.
“At the exclusive luncheon event, client questions mainly centered around the growing manufacturing capacity at Samsung Biologics, as well as the new mRNA business. We emphasized our end-to-end service capability through introducing the newly launched CDO platform services — S-DUAL™ bispecific antibody platform and DEVELOPICK™ developability assessment platform,” said Grace Chung from global sales at Samsung Biologics.
What Makes an Excellent CDMO?
Samsung Biologics hosted a presentation by Kevin Sharp, vice president of global sales, titled “What Are the Key Considerations in Choosing the Right CDMO Partner?”
Speaking on the first day of the conference, Sharp outlined several factors that differentiate top CDMOs, highlighting the importance of a proven track record and technical expertise, the agility to work at a variety of scales, and quality facilities with significant manufacturing capacity. Sharp also noted that CDMO partnerships enable pharmaceutical companies to focus on research and development while remaining confident in their ability to manufacture products efficiently and at scale.
“The demand for biomedicines is forecasted to exceed supply by 2026,” he said. “As a lot of investment and time are required to mass-produce biomedicines on time, a strategic partnership with an industry-proven CDMO like Samsung Biologics would help global biotech companies to run businesses more efficiently and put more concentrated efforts into developing new, innovative medicines.”
The presentation highlighted Samsung Biologics’ manufacturing capabilities by noting its industry-leading capacity, expected to reach 604,000 liters when Plant 4 becomes fully operational in 2023. Samsung Biologics already hosts the largest manufacturing capacity at any one location with its current Bio Campus in Songdo, South Korea, and in 2022 it purchased land to construct a second Bio Campus that will host additional plants at a location that is 30% larger than the current campus.
Sharp also discussed the CDMO’s commitment to compliance and quality, noting its 190+ global regulatory approvals while maintaining accelerated manufacturing timescales.
Accelerating Sustainably
Day two of the conference featured another presentation from Samsung Biologics, as James Choi, executive vice president and chief information and marketing officer, spoke on the topic of “Partnering With CDMOs for a Sustainable Future.”
The presentation highlighted Samsung Biologics’ focus on environmental, social, and governance issues, including discussions of sustainability initiatives, emissions reduction efforts at its facilities, and the growing emphasis on sustainable supply chains across the pharmaceutical industry.
“The biopharmaceutical industry is responsible for about 4% to 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions released into the air, and about half of those emissions come from supply chain operations,” said Choi as he explained why it is imperative to partner with CDMOs dedicated to sustainability.
Choi emphasized Samsung Biologics’ commitment to achieve net-zero emissions across its facilities and to utilize 100% renewable energy sources by 2050. Samsung Biologics is also involved in a broader industry push for sustainability as the lone CDMO representative on the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Health Systems Task Force, which Samsung Biologics helped launch at the COP26 climate conference. This initiative involves partnerships with health systems leaders from the private and public sectors aimed at developing innovative solutions to build more sustainable pharmaceutical supply chains.
Samsung Biologics CEO John Rim has increased the CDMO’s focus on ESG issues since his appointment in 2020, and he explained in a recent interview that the company’s involvement with SMI is an important component of its effort to lead the industry in a push toward sustainability.
“We are the only CDMO represented in the SMI’s Health Systems Task Force along with AstraZeneca, Sanofi, GSK, Novo Nordisk, the [World Health Organization], the [National Health Service], and UNICEF,” said Rim. “This foregrounds our positioning as a strategic partner to pharma and a contributor to the betterment of society, global health, and the planet.”
Sustainability was a point of emphasis not just for Samsung Biologics, but across the CPHI conference, demonstrating the pharmaceutical industry community’s recognition that it needs to act quickly and decisively to reduce its emissions footprint.
“Sustainability is definitely a rising trend within the biopharmaceutical industry,” said a CPHI conference organizer. “That’s why CPHI Worldwide 2022 created a sustainability theater for the first time in the conference’s history.”
One of the goals of the conference was to encourage the sort of sustainability-based partnerships that Samsung Biologics continues to champion through its approach to ESG.
A Client-Centered Approach
Samsung Biologics rounded out its activities at the conference with a variety of client-focused events and services, including digital surveys, happy hour, and lucky draw events.
The CDMO’s prominent booth represented its key goals with displays on manufacturing capabilities, innovative new platforms for antibody and mRNA vaccine production, and sustainability targets and achievements.
Its presence at the CPHI Worldwide Conference demonstrated Samsung Biologics’ commitment to a growth plan outlined by Rim in the company’s 2022 ESG report.
“Despite unprecedented business uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Samsung Biologics succeeded to continue both quantitative and qualitative growth [in 2021], achieving a record-high revenue and operating profit since its establishment,” wrote Rim. “In the future, we will relentlessly expand our business under three growth pillars of production capacity, business portfolio, and global footprint and establish ourselves as a global top-tier biopharma and at the same time nurture experts and secure talents to sharpen future competitive edge.”
