Seoul, Sep 9: Samsung Biologics, South Korea's leading biotech firm, said on Tuesday it has secured a 1.8 trillion-won ($1.29 billion) contract to provide manufacturing services for a U.S. pharmaceutical company through 2029.

The latest agreement raises the company's cumulative contract manufacturing value this year to more than US$3.6 billion, it said in a press release, reports Yonhap news agency.

Samsungz Biologics did not disclose the name of the U.S. firm.

Samsung Biologics said it has landed sizable deals this year by responding to evolving client needs in Asia, Europe and the United States.

The company has partnerships with 17 of the world's top 20 pharmaceutical firms and continues to extend contracts with existing clients to support the development of new therapies, the release said.

Samsung Biologics currently operates five biopharmaceutical plants in Songdo, just west of Seoul, with three additional facilities scheduled for completion by 2032.

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Its existing plants have a combined annual capacity of 784,000 liters, which will increase to 1.324 million liters once the new facilities come online.

Samsung Biologics' net profit for the April-June period gained 2 percent on-year to 324.4 billion won ($235.1 million).

Operating profit rose 9.5 percent on-year to 475.6 billion won, while sales increased 11.5 percent to 1.28 trillion won.

The net income, however, failed to meet market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 354.8 billion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.

For the first half of the year, Samsung Biologics' sales totalled 2.59 trillion won and its operating profit came to 962.3 billion won, both up from the same period last year.

The biotech arm of Samsung Group said the second-quarter performance was driven by steady operations at its Plants 1 through 3, and accelerated operations at Plant 4.

(IANS/NS)

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