Samsung, K-bio dominate San Diego as China's absence reshapes BIO USA

The 2026 BIO International Convention, the world's largest biotech and pharmaceutical trade fair, opened Monday (local time) at the San Diego Convention Center in California for a four-day run.

The Korean biotech industry's presence inside the venue is unmistakable on two fronts. At the center of the exhibition floor's contract development and manufacturing organization zone, Samsung Biologics has planted a large blue booth bearing the slogan "Driven. For Life." Directly beside it stands Swiss rival Lonza, billing itself as "The World's Leading CDMO." Industry observers say Samsung Biologics holds its own against Lonza in both booth scale and visibility — a striking image of the two global CDMO giants standing shoulder to shoulder.

The surge of Korean biotech companies is closely tied to the retreat of Chinese CDMOs. WuXi Biologics, which dismantled its solo booth in 2024, appeared only under the China Pavilion last year and has been absent from the exhibition floor entirely this year — including from the China Pavilion itself.

The Biosecure Act was formally enacted after President Donald Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act last December, effectively barring Chinese biotech firms such as WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics from the US federal procurement ecosystem. The shift has prompted open talk within the industry that Korea is filling the void left by WuXi.

Samsung Biologics is registered as a champion sponsor of this year's event, joining AstraZeneca, Fujifilm and Otsuka Pharmaceutical at the same tier. BIO USA's official sponsorship structure runs five levels from the top: Double Helix, Helix, Premier, Champion and Conference.

The company's branding push extends well beyond the convention center. Samsung Biologics has installed roughly 170 blue banners along Harbor Drive — the main road connecting San Diego International Airport to the venue — and in the surrounding area.

Along the palm-lined boulevard, banners carrying slogans such as "Enabled. Aspired." and "Every Stage. Across Modalities. Scaling Your Program." stretch as far as the eye can see. Attendees traveling from the airport by bus or car encounter the Samsung Biologics brand continuously from the moment they leave the terminal until they arrive at the convention center. Digital banner advertisements are also running at four locations in the main lobby, promoting the company's vision and service capabilities.

Samsung Biologics is attending BIO USA for the 14th consecutive year, occupying a 140-square-meter — roughly 42 pyeong, where 1 pyeong equals 3.3 square meters — solo booth in the prime Contract Services Zone. The booth uses interactive touch screens to showcase its CRDMO business model, which spans contract research, development and manufacturing, and highlights its global production capabilities including the Rockville, Maryland campus whose acquisition was completed in April.

In the Digital Health and AI Zone, a cluster of Korean companies forms another pillar of the K-bio presence. Celltrion, attending for the 17th consecutive year, has set up a roughly 139-square-meter solo booth to present its AI-driven drug development platform alongside next-generation pipeline candidates including antibody-drug conjugates and multispecific antibodies. The company is targeting expanded partnering opportunities as it seeks to grow beyond biosimilars into a global innovator drug company.

SK Biopharm is showcasing its AI-based drug development strategy and medium-to-long-term growth vision under the slogan "SK, AI for Every Patient," while also holding global partnership expansion meetings. Lotte Biologics is marking its fifth consecutive appearance by spotlighting its first factory at the Songdo Bio Campus in Incheon — set to be completed in August — and its "dual-site" operating model linking that facility to its Syracuse, New York plant as proof of CDMO competitiveness. Lotte Biologics co-CEO Shin Yu-yeol and SK Biopharm Executive Vice President Choi Yun-jeong, both of whom attended in person last year, are not at this year's event due to separate schedules. Dong-a Socio Group is running a joint booth for three affiliates — Dong-a ST, ST Pharm and Btigen — to maximize synergies across the group.

More than 20,000 industry professionals from over 68 countries are expected to attend this year's event, with more than 1,600 companies exhibiting. Over 150 sessions will feature more than 950 speakers, and roughly 10,000 partnering participants are projected to hold 70,000 meetings over the course of the convention.