South Korean biopharmaceutical firm Samsung Bioepis Co. will spend 180.4 billion won ($159.7 million) to build a new research and development center, its parent company said Thursday.
The investment cost accounts for 36.44 percent of the company's capital at the end of 2017, Samsung BioLogics, a biopharmaceutical unit of South Korea's top conglomerate Samsung Group, said in a regulatory filing.
"The construction of the R&D facility is intended to strengthen competitiveness," the company said.
(Samsung Bioepis)
Samsung Bioepis, which was established in 2012 in a joint venture between Samsung Biologics and Biogen Inc., mostly manufactures biosimilars.
The market for biosimilars has grown in recent years as such drugs are available to customers at a discount. Biosimilars are officially approved copycat medicines developed after patents for the original biopharmaceuticals expire. (Yonhap)