Jeff Mason, executive director of the New Jersey sales office at Samsung Biologics, said the global contract manufacturing organization (CMO) industry "remains on a stable growth trajectory" despite geopolitical uncertainty and pressure to reconfigure supply chains.
However, he noted that a combination of factors—including the reshoring trend that has accelerated in recent years, calls to diversify production bases, and drug supply shortages—are weighing on the industry overall.
On June 23 local time in San Diego, California, Mason took questions from global buyers at Bio USA and said, "It is difficult to define the CMO industry in a single phrase right now," adding, "There are several challenges, but overall it is maintaining a consistent growth trend."
He pointed to reshoring policies and moves to reorganize global production hubs as the core of recent changes in the industry environment. He said that while large pharmaceutical companies are expanding production facilities in the United States, outsourcing demand for global CMO corporations, including Samsung Biologics, is also continuing.
"Pressure and debate over reshoring are growing, but clients are still outsourcing a significant portion of their development pipelines," Mason said. "They are continuously requesting outsourcing not only for existing products but also for new pipelines." He added, "We are ready to respond flexibly to meet changing client demand."
He took a more cautious stance on geopolitical risk and supply chain instability. "I will not cite specific issues, but supply shortages and geopolitical uncertainty are affecting the industry broadly," he said, assessing that "this environment especially has a larger impact on major CMO players."
In this environment, he presented Samsung Biologics' medium- to long-term strategy as the "three growth pillars": ▲ capacity expansion ▲ global hub expansion ▲ portfolio diversification. "Samsung Biologics already has substantial capacity within the industry, but it will grow to a larger scale through additional expansion over the next few years," he said.
Regarding the strategy to expand production hubs, he cited the recently acquired Rockville, U.S., facility as a representative case. "The Rockville site was acquired from GSK plc, we closed the transaction in March, and integration is underway," Mason said. "We plan to keep existing commercial production products while adding new CMO projects to operations."
He also noted that the global CMO industry is shifting increasingly toward more complex modalities (treatment approaches). To respond, he said the company is simultaneously raising its technology and manufacturing capabilities. "As molecular structures become more complex, tech transfer and development become far more difficult," Mason said. "We are continuing to invest to strengthen technology and production capacity at the same time."
Another growth pillar for Samsung Biologics is a "Songdo-centered platform standardization strategy." "All production sites operate on the same platform, and quality systems, analytical systems, training, and documentation are standardized," he said. He added, "This has significantly shortened tech transfer timelines, and in Songdo, tech transfer is possible in about 90 days."