Business

Samsung Biologics Makes 2 Big US Acquisitions
By Reuters | 21 Dec, 2025

To meet US demand for its drugs tariff-free Samsung Biologics is paying $280 million for a GSK plant and buying Human Genome Sciences.

South Korea's Samsung Biologics said on Monday it is acquiring its first U.S. drug production facility from GSK for $280 million to respond to long-term U.S. market demand.

The company's U.S. unit, Samsung Biologics America, is acquiring a 100% stake in Human Genome Sciences Inc of Rockville, Maryland, the South Korean contract drug manufacturer said in a statement.

Samsung Biologics plans additional investments to expand the site's capacity, currently a combined 60,000 liters of drug substance capacity, and to upgrade technology, it said. 

It added that the acquisition value may change when the deal closes, likely around the end of the first quarter of 2026.

South Korea's Celltrion is also planning to produce drugs in the United States, where the Trump administration has threatened to levy tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

Under a deal with the United States, tariffs on U.S. imports of South Korean pharmaceuticals will be no greater than 15%, while generic drugs will be tariff-free. 

Samsung Biologics shares were down 0.4% on Monday, lagging the wider market's 2% gain. 

(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Diane Craft and Edmund Klamann)