South Korea's Celltrion earmarks $94.5M for new manufacturing plant: reports

Celltrion, a South Korea-based biopharma manufacturer, plans to spend 126 million South Korean won ($94.5 million) to build a new production facility, according to local reports.

The plant is expected to be completed and operational by 2027 and will be located at the company’s Songdo campus near Seoul, according to the Korea Biomedical Review. The company revealed its expansion plan at the Songdo campus Tuesday, the report said.

When completed, the new facility will have an annual production capacity of 8 million vials and will be designed to operate at a high efficiency to reduce operating costs.

Celltrion recently announced it would consolidate the Celltrion Healthcare and Celltrion Pharm divisions under the Celltrion umbrella as part of a three-way merger.

Before that, back in 2020, Celltrion said it would spend $453 million to construct its third production facility at the Songdo campus. At the time, the company estimated the project would create up to 3,000 new jobs.

That same year, Celltrion Chairman Seo Jung-jin announced the company would spend $33.6 billion over a 10-year period to boost its pharma business by investing in biologics operations and ingredient businesses plus artificial intelligence to create an e-commerce market for its drugs.

In the latest presentation, Celltrion said the new plant is aimed at addressing growing demand, according to the Korea Biomedical Review.