Samsung Biologics Announces Strategic Manufacturing Partnership With Lilly to Accelerate Delivery of COVID-19 Antibody Treatments

Samsung Biologics’ partnership with Eli Lilly and Company is expected to greatly accelerate the global supply for Lilly’s COVID-19 antibody therapies through a long-term manufacturing agreement, with the ultimate goal of making antibody treatments more globally accessible for patients.

Lilly’s success in developing neutralizing antibodies against COVID-19, augmented with Samsung Biologics’ manufacturing scale, signals a major move forward in delivering important treatments to patients suffering from the deadly pandemic.

“Neutralizing antibodies are proving to be an important tool in the fight against COVID-19, and the biopharmaceutical industry is collaborating quickly and effectively to increase the global manufacturing supply,” said David A. Ricks, Lilly’s chairman and CEO. “This agreement with Samsung supplements Lilly’s own internal manufacturing capacity and greatly expands our ability to deliver Lilly antibody therapies to patients around the world.”

Lilly and Samsung Biologics entered into the manufacturing partnership agreement in May of 2020 to address the increasingly urgent demand for COVID-19 treatments worldwide. Despite the global challenges of securing stable supply of raw materials amid the pandemic, Samsung was able to manufacture and deliver an initial supply of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) meeting Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and regulatory standards within 5 months of contract signing by leveraging the full force of both companies’ collaborative efforts. In addition, the timeline for tech transfer was reduced dramatically to less than 3 months, due in large part to close communications and coordination between technical, quality, supply chain, and regulatory experts from both companies.

“We are very pleased to deliver this product to our client Lilly in record breaking speed to aid in the war against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Tae Han Kim, CEO of Samsung Biologics. “Thanks to Lilly’s ongoing scientific efforts, patients suffering from the devastating effects of this disease are gaining new hope. Samsung Biologics is proud to be Lilly’s CDMO partner and will continue to work relentlessly and collaboratively with them to bring COVID-19 treatments to patients who need them the most, wherever they are.”

Lilly is a global healthcare leader that unites caring with discovery to create medicines that make life better for people around the world. We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the understanding and management of disease, and give back to communities through philanthropy and volunteerism.

Samsung Biologics is a fully integrated CDMO offering state-of-the-art contract development, manufacturing, and laboratory testing services. With proven regulatory approvals, the largest capacity at a single site, and the fastest throughput, Samsung Biologics is an award-winning partner of choice and is uniquely able to support the development and manufacturing of biologics products at every stage of the process while meeting the evolving needs of biopharmaceutical companies worldwide. For more information, visit www.samsungbiologics.com.

Lilly Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements about the supply and use of Lilly antibodies to treat or prevent  COVID-19 and reflects Lilly’s current beliefs. However, as with any such undertaking, there are substantial risks and uncertainties in the process of drug development and commercialization. Among other things, there can be no guarantee that Lilly antibodies will prove to be safe and effective to treat or prevent COVID-19, that Lilly antibodies will receive regulatory approval, or that Lilly can provide an adequate supply of Lilly antibodies. For a further discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from Lilly’s expectations, please see Lilly’s most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Lilly undertakes no duty to update forward-looking statements.