Samsung Biologics, Eli Lilly to open Lilly Gateway Labs hub in Songdo

Samsung Biologics said it will partner with U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. to establish a South Korea hub for Lilly Gateway Labs (LGL), an open-innovation program designed to select and nurture promising biotech startups.

The company said Monday it signed an open-innovation partnership agreement with Lilly at its headquarters in Songdo, Incheon, aimed at supporting high-potential Korean biotechs.

Under the agreement, a new LGL site will be created inside Samsung Biologics’ second Bio Campus. The company said it will be LGL’s second location outside the United States, following China. Lilly launched LGL in 2019 to identify and develop promising biotech companies.

LGL provides more than office and lab space, offering R&D collaboration, expert mentoring, direct investment and support for attracting outside funding, Samsung Biologics said. Since LGL’s launch, companies in the program have raised more than $3 billion (about 4.4121 trillion won), and more than 50 drug-development programs have been accelerated, it said.

Samsung Biologics said Lilly had been exploring an expansion into South Korea, citing the market’s growth potential, and decided to collaborate after assessing Samsung’s global-scale infrastructure and startup-support experience.

The new LGL hub is expected to move into an open-innovation center called “C-Lab Outside,” which Samsung Biologics is building with a target completion date of July 2027. The five-story facility, with a total floor area of 12,000 square meters, is under construction at the second Bio Campus in Songdo. The two companies said they will jointly run the full process of selecting and supporting 30 promising biotechs that will be based there.

Samsung Biologics CEO John Rim said the partnership will help bring a global drugmaker’s open-innovation capabilities to promising Korean biotechs. “We will expand an organic, win-win cooperation model and secure sustainable growth momentum for K-bio,” he said.