Celltrion to invest $230M in Yesan biopharma plant

Industry

Celltrion to invest $230M in Yesan biopharma plant

Published: 30 Nov. 2023, 18:17

SARAH CHEA
chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr

Celltrion founder and chairman Seo Jung-jin speaks about the company's merger plan at a press conference in western Seoul. [CELLTRION]

Celltrion will invest 300 billion won ($230 million) to build a biopharmaceuticals manufacturing plant in Yesan County, South Chungcheong.

The Korean company signed a memorandum of understanding with Yesan County and the South Chungcheong provincial government on Thursday to build a plant for biopharmaceutical products on a 99,291-square-meter site in Yesan.

Construction will be completed by 2028, though specific details will be announced later.

The new plant will likely create 1,500 new jobs, Celltrion said.

Celltrion is a biosimilar company that generated 2.3 trillion won in sales last year. Biosimilars, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are biological products that are approved based on proof that they are highly similar to other FDA-approved products. The drugs have no clinically meaningful differences, in terms of safety or efficacy, from their reference products, but they cost less.

Celltrion announced the same day that Zymfentra, its subcutaneous formulation of autoimmune disease treatment Remsima, is set to hit the U.S. market on Feb. 29. Remsima is a biosimilar to Janssen Biotech's Remicade.

Zymfentra is the first and only FDA-approved SC formulation of infliximab for the treatment of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The launch will come only four months after the drug's FDA approval.

“Zymfentra sales will grow to 7 trillion won at the highest,” Celltrion founder and chairman Seo Jung-jin said during a press conference on Oct. 25.

Seo also said that a merger of three listed Celltrion companies will be completed next year. Such a merger would create a pharmaceutical behemoth expected to log around 12 trillion won of yearly revenue by 2030.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]