Celltrion founder and Chairman Seo Jung-jin speaks at Korea Investment Week on Sept. 11
Celltrion Inc., South Korea’s largest biosimilar maker, will spend several billion dollars to build a factory to crack the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) market, led by Swiss pharmaceutical company Lonza, Celltrion founder and Chairman Seo Jung-jin said on Wednesday.
“We’ll establish a wholly owned CDMO subsidiary this year and inject some billion dollars from next year to build a CDMO plant with a capacity of 180,000 liters,” he said on Wednesday in a speech at the Korea Investment Week hosted by The Korea Economic Daily.
The CDMO plant, which would be its fourth production facility if completed, will likely be fully operational in four years.
It will also have production lines for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) to meet the soaring demand of Zyemfentra, its subcutaneous injection formulation for autoimmune disease and its other biosimilars, he added.
His comments came a few days after he announced its venture into the CDMO market at the Morgan Stanley 22nd Annual Global Healthcare Conference last week.
Seo is betting big on the CDMO business.
South Korean CDMOs, including Samsung Biologics Co. and Lotte Biologics Co., are expected to benefit from the US move to introduce a bill, dubbed the Biosecure Act, to regulate Chinese biotech companies.
“Given its impact on Chinese companies, South Korea will become a global CDMO production base,” he told the conference, adding that it aims to offer diverse products under contract development and manufacturing enough to compete with Lonza.
SEVEN MORE YEARS BEFORE RETIREMENT
The 66-year-old chairman said he is dedicated to growing Celltrion to join the ranks of the world’s top 10 bio and pharmaceutical companies within the next seven years.
“People ask me when I’m going to retire. I pray for the stamina to work for the next seven years,” he said. “I will make Celltrion one of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the world with a pretax net profit of 15 trillion won ($11.2 billion).”
The profit target is somewhere between the net profits of AbbVie, a US pharmaceutical company and Denmark-based Novo Nordisk. They rank fifth and sixth in terms of net profit in 2023, respectively.
They are followed by France’s Sanofi, Switzerland-based Novartis and two US pharmaceutical giants Amgen and BMS.
Celltrion CEO Seo Jin-seok gives a presentation at Korea Investment Week on Sept. 11, 2024
FIVE NEW BIOSIMILARS IN 2025
Seo Jin-seok, Celltrion CEO and the eldest son of Chairman Seo, said it will release five new products next year, adding to the six biosimilars it has rolled out since its launch in 2002.
It has submitted investigational new drug (IND) applications to initiate clinical trials for three ADCs and one antibody next year, with an aim to build a portfolio of 22 biosimilar candidates by 2030, he noted.
By Dae-Kyu Ahn and Jeong Min Nam
powerzanic@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article
