Korean drugmaker Samsung BioLogics’ third plant has secured a manufacturing order worth at least 17.9 billion won ($16.6 million) from an undisclosed US pharmaceutical firm, according to the firm’s regulatory filing on Thursday.

The contract is equal to roughly 6 percent of the Korean firm’s net revenue as of 2016, according to the disclosure.

The order could increase in size to $148.2 million, depending on whether the US firm succeeds in bringing the drug to market. The US firm also may extend additional contracts.

Details of the contract, such as the identity of the other party and contract period, have yet to be made public. Samsung BioLogics cited a contractual obligation to keep the details secret. 

The order marks the first one since the plant, located in Songdo, Incheon, completed a construction in December 2017. The facility spans across over 118,600 square meters and has the production capacity of 180,000 liters, the world’s largest.

Kim Tae-han, chief executive and president of Samsung BioLogics, hinted on Thursday of transferring part of the firm’s drug production at its first and second plants to the third plant.

Samsung BioLogics, the pharmaceutical arm of the nation’s largest conglomerate Samsung, currently has three plants, while it has mulled plans to build a fourth one.

By Son Ji-hyoung 
(consnow@heraldcorp.com)