The number of employees at Samsung Biologics has exceeded 5,000 for the first time in the domestic pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry.
According to the company's semi-annual report disclosed on the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 17th, the number of regular employees at Samsung Biologics was counted as 5,047.
This is twice the scale of major corporations in the same industry in Korea. As of the end of June, the number of regular employees at Celltrion was 2,680, at Hanmi Pharmaceutical 2,345, and at Chong Kun Dang 2,253.
Samsung Biologics has continued its rapid growth in performance since its establishment by engaging in the contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) of biopharmaceuticals and the development and sale of biosimilars.
There are evaluations that the company has established a virtuous cycle structure where business growth leads to expanded employment. When the company was established in 2011, the number of employees was around 50, and the number has increased by an average of 40% per year.
Last year, Samsung Biologics' revenue was 4.5473 trillion won, which is more than 15 times the 294.6 billion won reported in 2016, the year it went public.
For the first half of this year, Samsung Biologics recorded consolidated revenue of 2.5882 trillion won, an increase of 23% compared to the same period last year, and operating profit increased 47% to 962.3 billion won. The company has revised its annual revenue growth forecast (guidance) upward from the previous 20–25% to 25–30%.
Meanwhile, Samsung Biologics is in the process of partitioning its CDMO and biosimilar businesses. It plans to create a pure holding company, Samsung Bioepis Holdings, through a simple spin-off method, integrating Samsung Bioepis as a wholly-owned subsidiary.