Since being established in 2012, Samsung Bioepis has grown into a global biosimilars leader with one of the most robust portfolios of products and pipelines in the sector. Its executive vice-president talks about what is behind this rapid growth and the strategy the Samsung Group affiliate is pursuing to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and become a fully integrated operation in the longer term.

Since being established in 2012, Samsung Bioepis has grown into a global biosimilars leader with one of the most robust portfolios of products and pipelines in the sector. Its executive vice-president tells Scrip what’s behind this rapid growth and the strategy the Samsung Group affiliate is pursuing to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and become a fully integrated operation in the longer term.

After an earlier frenzy around local production and supply, policies to encourage generics, and fast-evolving procedural streamlining, Pfizer’s $350m ambition to develop and make cheaper biologics in China has come to an abrupt halt with the sale of its manufacturing site in a deal with services heavyweight WuXi Apptec.

In an exclusive interview, Samsung Bioepis’ head of clinical research, Il Sun Hong, tells Generics Bulletin how the company managed to put itself at the head of the pack in the chase for biosimilar Eylea (aflibercept); and how the biosimilar can coexist with biosimilars to Lucentis (ranibizumab), which may debut later this year.