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| Lee Jae-yong, left, chairman of Samsung Electronics and leader of Samsung Group, poses with Noubar Afeyan, co-founder and chairman of Moderna and founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, during their meeting in Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 16, 2021. Samsung said Sunday that Lee had a meeting with Afeyan and other bio CEOs during his April-May 2023 visit to the U.S. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Samsung Group is seeking to expand cooperation with innovative biotech companies in the United States as Chairman Lee Jae-yong held a series of meetings with the CEOs of bio companies there, Samsung said Sunday.
Korea's largest conglomerate added the bio sector as a business that Lee aims to foster as the group's flagship business. Lee also wants to discover new business opportunities in the field through these meetings.
Samsung said Lee recently held a series of meetings with the CEOs of big biopharmaceutical companies and bio venture incubation companies in the eastern part of the U.S., known as the world's largest bio cluster.
The figures Lee had meetings with are Joaquin Duato, CEO of Johnson & Johnson; Giovanni Caforio, CEO of Bristol Myers Squibb; Noubar Afeyan, CEO of Flagship Pioneering; Chris Viehbacher, CEO of Biogen; and Kevin Ali, CEO of Organon.
Johnson & Johnson is a global top-tier biopharmaceutical company with over 140 years of history and is a major customer of Samsung Biologics. Bristol Myers Squibb laid the foundation for the growth of Samsung's bio business by awarding Samsung its first order for drug production in 2013.
The CEO of Flagship Pioneering is the co-founder of Moderna, which helped overcome the COVID-19 crisis through an agreement with Samsung to produce mRNA vaccines, and the two companies are also working together to discover and nurture promising bio startups.
Also, Biogen partnered with Samsung Biologics to establish Samsung Bioepis. Though Biogen sold all of its shares in Samsung Bioepis to Samsung Biologics in 2022, the two companies have continued to work closely with each other, with Biogen handling the European distribution and sales of Samsung's autoimmune disease treatments.
Samsung made its foray into the bio business more than a decade ago and became the world's No.1 contract-based drug manufacturer through quick decision-making, bold investments and superior manufacturing technology in close collaboration with these key partners.
"The bio industry is a field with high barriers to entry, requiring not only production technology and R&D capabilities, but also trust and reputation building for long-term collaboration. Lee's wide global network is expected to serve as a lever for Samsung's bio business to expand collaboration with big pharmaceutical companies and create future growth opportunities," Samsung said.
After meeting with leaders of bio pharmaceutical companies, Chairman Lee also met with employees of Samsung's North American sales office. During the meeting Lee said "The starting point is not important. Bold and persistent challenges will make the difference between victory and defeat," before he called on the company to continue the DNA of success created from Samsung's semiconductor business in the field of biotech.
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