Samsung Biologics shares started upbeat Wednesday morning, up 2.62 percent from a day before, in light of its disclosure that it has nabbed a contract manufacturing deal worth $314 million with a European biopharmaceutical firm.

The size of this new deal is as big as 54.3 percent the company’s revenue in 2019 at 701.6 billion won ($582 million).

Combined with two other deals inked earlier in June, Samsung Biologics has already achieved 95.57 percent of last year’s revenue in the first half of 2020.

Earlier on June 6, Samsung Biologics announced that a Switzerland-based biopharma extended its existing CMO contract by $202.2 million, amounting to 35.1 percent of its revenue in 2019.

On the same day, the company posted another deal worth $35.5 million, 6.17 percent of the revenue last year.

None of the clients’ names could be revealed due to contractual non-disclosure clause.

Samsung Biologics said it will manufacture the biologics drug for the latest deal at its plant 3 in Songdo, Incheon.

Plant 3 is its latest and biggest manufacturing facility equipped with N-1 perfusion technology.

The technology refers to one step less in the manufacturing process, which significantly reduces the time spent in “growing” the biologics drug in the bioreactors.

Samsung Biologics plans to build additional plants once it reaches full production capacity at its existing three facilities.

The company’s Executive Vice President John Rim, head of plant 3 management, had earlier said that the blueprint for another facility will ideally be identical to plant 3, depending on the portfolio of future clientele.

If big-sized biopharma clients seek large volumes of biologics drugs, the new plant would be similar to plant 3. However, if small-sized innovative bio ventures seek more help of a contract development organization, then the plant 4 would make room for smaller bioreactors that can more efficiently work on small-size volumes.

Samsung Biologics already has a giant slab of land available in Songdo next to its existing plants, that can be utilized when needed.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)