Chong Kun Dang to build new plant for foray into biologics market

Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp. is discussing building a research center and a plant in Siheung, about 30 kilometers southwest of Seoul, with the Siheung city government to expand into the biologics market beyond generic and imported drugs.

The company is considering investing 700 billion-800 billion won ($485 million-$554 million) in the construction by 2030. It plans to eventually pour up to 3 trillion-4 trillion won into the facilities over the next 10 years, according to pharmaceutical industry sources on Thursday.

If realized, it will mark an unprecedently large investment by a domestic pharmaceutical company to build both an R&D center and a plant.

It will use the new facilities as a development and production hub for new medicines and biologics drugs. It submitted the construction plan to the city of Siheung from which it got the preliminary nod.

Chong Kun Dang operates a finished drug manufacturing plant in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province and a pharmaceutical ingredient plant run by its affiliate, Kyongbo Pharmaceutical Co. Both facilities specialize in synthetic drugs.

Its biopharmaceutical manufacturing plant and research center set to be located in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province will focus on antibody-based treatments and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).

ADCs are considered a next-generation cancer treatment as they precisely target cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue.

According to the Korea Biotechnology Industry Association, the global biopharmaceutical market is projected to grow to 1,114 trillion won by 2029 from 663 trillion won in 2023, reflecting an average annual growth rate of 9%.

However, only a very few domestic pharmaceutical companies, including Green Cross Corp. and Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co., operate biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities.

Chong Kun Dang is accelerating its expansion into the biologics market, after signing its biggest-ever $1.3 billion out-licensing deal with Novartis AG for a Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) treatment in November 2023.

It marked the second-largest licensing deal in South Korean pharmaceutical history.

"Chong Kun Dang’s expansion into biopharmaceuticals will intensify R&D competition among pharmaceutical companies," an industry expert said. "This could reshape the domestic pharmaceutical landscape."

Write to Young-Ae Lee and Dae-Gyu Ahn at 0ae@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.