Any emphasis on growth in the next few years should come with an equal emphasis on sustainability in the world of business. For many companies, especially in the biopharmaceutical industry, sustainability goes hand in hand with enabling more treatments to be available to patients and their families, and creating more access to groundbreaking biomedicines all around the world. Contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) also play a role in this industry by assisting major companies to develop, distribute, and manufacture their treatments, vaccines, and therapies. For leading CDMO Samsung Biologics, sustainability has become even more of a priority in the new year. 

While the CDMO has partnered with many driving forces in the pharmaceutical world, including Moderna, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, and GSK, Samsung Biologics has also started a strong initiative to incorporate sustainability into its company practices. According to McKinsey & Company, “The overwhelming weight of accumulated research finds that companies that pay attention to environmental, social, and governance concerns do not experience a drag on value creation.” In a similar way, Samsung Biologics has found that considering sustainability has only made its latest plans for growth more unique, more doable, and beneficial for long-term investments over time. 

At the latest 2022 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Samsung Biologics unveiled new plans that included stable, long-term growth and a focus on sustainability moving forward. Samsung Biologics CEO John Rim stated, “For Samsung Biologics, 2022 will be a year where we will be able to take a great leap forward for sustainable growth and endeavor to maximize our capabilities as a leading CDMO.” 

New Plans for Growth 

Samsung Biologics already had plans in place to continue to build Plant 4 in Incheon, South Korea, from the previous year. But at the conference, the company announced that it’s planning to start construction on a new plant, Plant 5, and is finding ground for Bio campus II. And in January 2022, Samsung Biologics announced it had reached an agreement with Biogen for the buyout of Biogen’s stake in the Samsung Bioepis joint venture, which is expected to accelerate biosimilar development capabilities and future performance in novel drug development. 

“Through proactive investment in increasing our manufacturing capacity, enhancing portfolio diversification, and expanding facilities overseas, Samsung Biologics will be able to accelerate the buildup of its core success drivers as the next growth engine of the industry,” Rim said at the conference. 

The company has put several initiatives in place to keep its plans and current operations sustainable and environmentally friendly. After being included in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI) along with a small number of other Korean companies in 2021, Samsung Biologics has been recognized globally for its efforts. Being included on this list was no minor accomplishment: Just 12.7%, or 322 firms, of the 2,544 companies that were reviewed were included in the index.

At the start of 2021, Samsung Biologics established an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Committee to design and supervise the company’s environmental, social, and governance policies. 

The Environmental Sustainability Report covered the period from January 2020 to December 2020 and focused on the company’s environmental trends and practices. The search for firms that share their own set of values is common among investors, which is especially crucial in an age when experts claim that corporations do not always adhere to the most environmentally friendly means of conducting their operations. “Corporate brands can increase their values tremendously by focusing on sustainability,” wrote the World Bank GYCN Ambassador on Climate Change Talal Rafi for Forbes. 

Samsung Biologics expanded the scope of its participation in ESG by joining a new program. A multinational effort to limit global temperatures from increasing by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels was launched with the participation of the corporation. The Korean Financial Supervisory Service, the country’s major financial regulatory body, was the driving force behind the Frontier 1.5D initiative. A number of other companies and educational institutions, including the KB Financial Group, SK Innovation, CJ CheilJedang, and the British Embassy in Korea, have all gotten involved with the initiative.

Keeping Sustainability in Focus

“With our continued investment in capacity, portfolio, and global footprint, we will evolve as the top biopharmaceutical company and offer diversified services as the next growth engine of the industry,” said Rim at the JP Morgan Conference. The company also made the decision to take action in order to support other members of society who are involved in the global fight to tackle climate change.

The corporation has set a target to lower its own greenhouse gas emissions by 37% by 2025. It also intends to become carbon-neutral in the near future.

About Post Author

Roy Reyna

Roy Reyna is a congressional reporter for Pluralist. He covers the U.S. Congress and its members, focusing on the House of Representatives. Prior to joining Pluralist, he worked as a reporter for National Journal and The Hill, covering Congress and politics. Reyna has a background in political science and has written extensively on the inner workings of Congress, as well as the political and policy issues that drive it. He is based in Washington, D.C.

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