Samsung, SK in race to gain lead in CDMO market

Published date11 May 2022
Publication titleThe Korea Times

By Kim Jae-heunSamsung Biologics and SK Bioscience plan to invest heavily in the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) market, which the two firms believe will be their next growth engine.CDMO, which combines a contract manufacturing organization (CMO) and contract development organization (CDO), refers to the development and production of medicine at the request of a client company that lacks any medical production facilities.

Samsung and SK already demonstrated their global competitiveness last year by achieving record-high business performance after inking major COVID-19 vaccine production deals. This year, the two companies are planning even more aggressive investments in the CDMO field.

Samsung Biologics is preparing to open its fourth factory in Songdo, Incheon, which will be the world's largest bio production facility. SK Bioscience will strengthen its competitiveness in the CDMO market by establishing a research and development center in Songdo in 2024. Bio firms have been expanding their CDMO capacity, because the global market size is growing at a fast rate and it has become essential to strengthen their production capabilities.

According to a study by the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization released on May 1, the size of the global CDMO market will reach $20.3 billion (25.1 trillion won) by 2026 from $11.3 billion in 2020. As of 2020, there were more than 100 CDMO companies and the top five companies -- Lonza, Samsung Biologics, Catalent, Boehringer...

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