
SAN FRANCISCO -- Samsung Biologics has made a major move into the antibody-drug conjugate market, announcing that its newly constructed 500-liter ADC-dedicated production facility will commence operations this February.
Joseph Jeong, vice president of the ADC Development Team at Samsung Biologics, highlighted the rationale behind the expansion, emphasizing the company’s ability to leverage its established expertise in monoclonal antibody CDMO services to advance ADC therapeutics.
"Samsung Biologics is well-positioned to meet the increasing demand in the rapidly growing ADC market through its proven track record, bioprocessing capabilities and comprehensive expertise," Jeong said on Wednesday during a press briefing held in San Francisco on the sidelines of the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.
ADCs are an innovative therapeutic technology that combines a monoclonal antibody, which targets specific antigens on the surface of cancer cells with a potent drug designed to induce cell death, offering a highly effective approach to eliminating cancer cells.
Earlier last year, Samsung Biologics initiated groundbreaking collaborations with leading domestic ADC company LigaChem Biosciences.
In June, the two companies signed a material transfer agreement for ADC development. The most recent agreement signed on Jan. 9 marks a commitment to actively advance more than three ADC projects this year under this collaborative framework.
Located in Songdo, Incheon, the company’s standalone ADC production facility is a four-story building equipped with a purification line designed for large-scale production and streamlined quality control. The facility’s Grade C manufacturing environment offers exceptional flexibility, accommodating diverse batch sizes, and is outfitted with fully customizable, disposable containment systems. Furthermore, the Safebridge-certified program for handling potent compounds ensures stringent safety measures at every stage of production, according to Jeong.
Currently, Samsung Biologics boasts the world’s largest production capacity for antibody therapeutics, totaling 604,000 liters, and aims to steadily expand its ADC manufacturing capabilities.
"Investment remains a key priority, and we have continuously strengthened our ADC technology portfolio through partnerships with global firms such as Switzerland’s Araris Biotech, the US' BrickBio, and Korea’s AimedBio to enhance our competitiveness," Jeong added.
With the global rise in cancer incidence, PH Pharma projects that the ADC market will grow to $22 billion by 2030.
The number of FDA-approved ADC drugs is also on the rise.
Since Pfizer’s Mylotarg received approval in 2000, 14 additional ADC drugs have been approved by the FDA in recent years, including Enhertu from AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo in 2019 and Elahere from ImmunoGen in November 2022.
Last year alone, some 25 global technology transfer agreements were signed in the ADC field, with major pharmaceutical companies like Merck, Janssen and Sanofi actively incorporating ADC pipelines and platforms.
By Kim Hae-yeon (hykim@heraldcorp.com)