Chairman Seo Jung-jin outlines W5.4tr manufacturing push, including two-phase upgrade to boost New Jersey output to 66,000 liters
Celltrion will invest 5.4 trillion won ($3.7 billion) in expanding its recently acquired production site in the United States and its production facilities in Korea, Chairman Seo Jung-jin said Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Celltrion posted in a regulatory filing that it will invest up to 700 billion won in upgrading the plant in Branchburg, New Jersey, which the company acquired from Eli Lilly for $330 million in September.
“The regulatory filing means that we will take steps to meet the requirements for tariff-free businesses (in the US) even if tariffs are imposed on medicines,” said Seo in an online press conference.
“Regarding the expansion (of the New Jersey plant) in the future, we will speed it up depending on how the US government approaches medicine-related tariff policies.”
Celltrion plans to complete the acquisition of the New Jersey plant before the end of the year after completing reviews by the US and Irish trade authorities last week. The Korean biosimilar-maker will prepare necessary measures to begin the phased expansion at the US site as soon as the takeover is completed, according to Seo.
The first phase of the upgrade will add three 11,000-liter bioreactors over three years, followed by another three units in a second phase to bring the total expansion to 66,000 liters of production capacity over five years.
As the acquisition and operation of the New Jersey site cost roughly 700 billion won, the total investment in the US manufacturing site amounts to 1.4 trillion won.
On top of the US investment, Celltrion is speeding up its domestic expansion in Korea.
“I reported to President Lee Jae Myung that about 4 trillion won will go into (the domestic expansion),” said Seo. “We are going to determine where we will invest first between Korea and the US once the tariff issue is settled.”
The domestic investment will be used for the ongoing construction of a drug product plant at its Songdo Biocampus and three new facilities: a drug substance plant in Songdo, a drug product plant in Yesan, South Chungcheong Province, and a prefilled syringe facility in Ochang, North Chungcheong Province.
“We are considering a 360,000-liter production capacity, having announced our entry into the (contract development and manufacturing organization) business,” said Seo.
The Celltrion Chairman also pledged to secure a portfolio of 41 biosimilars by 2038 as the company looks to add seven new biosimilar products to the market by 2030 with a plan to launch two to three more each year. Alongside its progress in biosimilars, Celltrion is working to have more than 10 antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, and multispecific antibody candidates by 2027.
Regarding the development of an obesity treatment, Seo noted that the company’s CT-G32, a quadruple agonist drug, is expected to offer an improved weight-loss efficacy of up to 25 percent while reducing variability in treatment response and minimizing lean-mass loss. Its preclinical trials are scheduled to begin next year.
hwkan@heraldcorp.com
