Samsung Biologics made an announcement on April 26 that it will expand the amount of CMO of ublituximab (TG-1101), monoclonal antibody therapy, with TG Therapeutics, a U.S. bio company.
As a result, Samsung Biologics revised its order for ublituximab's CMO, which was previously announced, to 54.1 billion won ($50.3 million). It increased by 30 billion won from the existing 24.1 billion won ($22.4 million).
If TG Therapeutics succeeds in developing ublituximab through this contract, the minimum guaranteed contract amount will be adjusted to 299.1 billion won ($278.1 million), and if demand from customers increases, it could increase to 371.6 billion won ($345.6 million).
This is the fourth CMO contract between Samsung Biologics and TG Therapeutics. After signing the first CMO contract for ublituximab in February 2018, the two companies continued to cooperate closely and signed a contract to expand the volume of CMO three times, including this contract.
"We have been able to respond flexibly to customer needs and increase customer satisfaction through facility investment," said John Lim, CEO of Samsung Biologics. "We will be a company that contributes to the better life of mankind by providing timely treatments to multiple sclerosis patients around the world."
"We are happy to collaborate with Samsung BioLogics, a global drug production leader, at a time when we are expecting commercialization of Ublituximab," said Michael S. Weiss, chairman and CEO of TG Therapeutics. "With the recent positive research results in Phase III clinical trials, we have re-established the volume needed, and thanks to Samsung BioLogics, we can secure long-term production capacity to respond to the expected demand of Ublituximab in the global market in the future."
Meanwhile, Samsung BioLogics is responding to market demand by continuing preemptive facility investment as demand for biopharmaceuticals around the world increases sharply increased.
It has built three plants over the past decade to establish itself as the world's largest biopharmaceutical production base with a total production capacity of 364,000 liters, and is currently building a fourth plant (256,000 liters) of the world's largest production capacity with a goal of operating in 2023. When the fourth plant is completed, Samsung BioLogics will have a production capacity of 620,000 liters, which is 30% of the world's bio CMO production capacity.
