The year of 2020 will always be remembered as the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when virtually every individual, business, and organization was impacted to some degree by the virus and its effects on the economy and everyday life. In order to keep themselves and others safe, a huge number of businesses reduced their operations or shutdown operations entirely, forced to sideline their upcoming innovations and efforts in the face of such a devastating pandemic.
But what about businesses with the capability to help battle and, eventually, end the pandemic altogether? Far from shutting down, these companies were required to push even harder in order to deliver lifesaving innovations, technologies, and eventually the vaccine that would help stop the pandemic’s raging spread. At the forefront of this push were the biopharmaceutical companies around the world that went from little-known innovators in their respective fields to household names as they developed the lifesaving technology to treat and prevent COVID-19 worldwide.
Biopharmaceutical companies are responsible for researching, developing, and manufacturing drugs and medical products using special formulations that are based on microscopic living organisms. When compared to chemically-based medicines developed in labs, biopharmaceutical drugs and medications tend to have less side effects, less toxic properties, and other benefits.
There are dozens of major pharmaceutical companies worldwide, but there are a few that rose to the top in 2020 in the battle to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 while treating the side effects experienced by those who contracted it. Many have been highly visible in the news, mostly those that were directly involved with the development of the primary vaccines. But one biopharmaceutical company that has received less mainstream attention has been Samsung Biologics.
Samsung Biologics — One of the Innovative Biopharmaceutical Companies of 2020
Samsung Biologics was already one of the fastest-growing pharmaceutical companies over the last several years heading into 2020. They operate primarily as a CDMO, or contract development and manufacturing organization, which means that they manufacture drugs and pharmaceuticals on behalf of other biotech or biopharmaceutical companies in order to enhance their production capabilities.
Over the last year, Samsung Biologics made even more waves by revealing progress on their fourth biomanufacturing plant— one that will become the largest capacity single-site manufacturing plant in the world upon completion. Senior Vice President James Choi had this to say about the facility’s automation capabilities:
“In automating our facilities, we utilize a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) at the beginning of each batch production to ensure that the materials are dispensed correctly and are accurately traced through the entire batch process, reducing the risk of operator error, and improving data accuracy with the automated weighing and dispensing process.”
Samsung Biologics also worked closely with many vaccine manufacturers and companies working to combat and prevent COVID-19, augmenting their capabilities with over 350,000 liters of drug substance manufacturing capacity. Samsung Biologics’ aseptic filling capabilities were also instrumental in fulfilling astonishing demand for production around the world.
What’s Next for Samsung Biologics
In the coming months and years, expect Samsung Biologics to solidify their place as a leading biopharmaceutical company as they continue to support lifesaving treatment and prevention of COVID-19, expand their production capacity, and continue to expand internationally— including an announced new R&D facility based in the Bay Area of Northern California.
Samsung Biologics will likely continue to partner with leading biopharma companies and other organizations, providing both innovative research and development as well as unmatched production capacity in order to help make advanced, safe, and effective biopharmaceuticals more available worldwide— not just for fighting COVID-19, but for treating and preventing a wide range of diseases, illnesses, and conditions.