Quintiles will make a minority 10% investment of about $30m in setting up a manufacturing plant (which will contract-make medicines derived from living cells) in the Songdo district of Incheon, near Seoul, in the first half of 2011.
The plant will be equipped with technologies and an 8,000-gallon (30,000 liters) mammalian cell culture bioreactor capacity capable of producing 1,300 pounds (600 kilograms) of biopharmaceutical products.
Samsung will own the remaining 90% of the joint venture company (with $226m in capital) in the following proportions: Samsung Electronics (40%), Samsung Everland (40%), and Samsung C&T Corporation (10%).
Samsung plans to expand into producing copies of biologics including Rituxan, the leukemia and lymphoma treatment sold by Roche Holding and Biogen Idec.
The company will also develop so-called biosimilars, and begin producing them in 2016 starting with Rituxan.
Quintiles senior vice president and head of Asia markets Anand Tharmaratnam said that South Korea is an important part of the company’s growth strategy in Asia, and this partnership illustrates how Quintiles can use its resources and expertise to help companies achieve their strategic goals.