Celltrion plots $33.6bn investment and 1m litre production capacity expansion
Last week, Celltrion announced its ‘Celltrion Group Vision 2030’ plans, which included investing KRW 40 trillion ($33.6bn) across its pharmaceutical business and plans to expand its global production capacity to one million litres.
The company also stated that 110,000 jobs would be created, with 10,000 additional roles in Celltrion, predominantly in production, and a further 100,000 roles created for partner companies.
A spokesperson for Celltrion provided us with a breakdown of how the KRW 40 trillion figure will be utilised, saying, “Celltrion’s investment plans are: KRW 25 trillion for biopharmaceutical businesses, which are mostly based in Songdo, Incheon. KRW 5 trillion for chemical drug businesses based in Ochang, North Choongchung Province. KRW 10 trillion for global healthcare and the U-healthcare platform businesses.”
The spokesperson continued to say that annual biopharma production capacity will be increased across its business, including the aforementioned one million litre figured for biopharma, and a KRW 1 trillion investment in expanding production capacity at its Celltrion Pharma business by 10 billion tablets.
The action is being taken to ‘better prepare’ the company for product expansion and supply enlargement, as the company plans to launch one biopharma product every year, spending 16 trillion won on these efforts, the spokesperson explained.
A separate part of the company’s strategy involves creating a ‘bio industry valley’ in North Chungcheong province, South Korea – the location of its Celltrion Pharma business. However, the spokesperson was unable to provide further comment on the plans.
In full-year 2018 results, the company made a profit of KRW 253 billion, which was notably down on the same figures for 2017, at KRW 386 billion – though sales were up by 3.5% year-on-year.
However, towards the latter end of last year, Celltrion, alongside partners, managed to secure approvals for biosimilars to Herceptin (trastuzumab) and Rituxan (rituximab).
Celltrion’s ambitious plans for the next decade echo similar plans announced by fellow South Korean company, Samsung. Last year, the company announced a project to invest KRW 180 trillion into its overall business, of which only an ‘unspecified percentage’ would go to its biologics business, we were told at the time.
