South Korea’s largest pharmaceutical company has unveiled plans to pour $453 million into expanding its manufacturing and R&D capabilities.
According to the Korea Biomedical Review, the company is planning to build its third pharma plant and a global biotech research facility its complex in Incheon. The new digs will include eight 7,500-liter incubators and increase the site’s annual capacity by 33 percent — from 190,000 liters to 250,000 liters. The company hopes to complete construction on the plant by May 2023 and finish the R&D center in July 2022. All told, Celltrion says the new facilities will create about 3,000 new jobs.
As Celltrion forecasts ongoing expansion in the biopharma market, the company said that it also has plans for a fourth plant in the works, but is not ready to release a timeline on that project.
Celltrion has risen to become the No. 1 pharma company by revenue in South Korea thanks to the sales of several major biosimilars, including Truxima, its copycat version of Roche’s blockbuster Rituxan. The expansion plans are in line with the company’s lofty goal of launching one biosimilar product every year by 2030.
