SEOUL, KOREA - Green Cross Corp. will build a blood product plant in Canada at the cost of 180 billion won, aimed at entering the United States market. The company said on April 7 that it has signed an agreement with the Quebec provincial government in building a blood fractionation plant there in exchange for financial support and priority purchasing privilege. This is the first time for a domestic drug company to establish a production base in North America.

 

 

Under the terms of the agreement, Investissement Quebec would provide 25 million Canadian dollars (US$22.8 million) in subsidies and tax breaks in return for a plant for immune globulins and albumins. In addition, the blood products produced in the Canadian Green Cross plant will be sold locally through Hema-Quebec, a non-profit organization that manages the blood supply for the province of Quebec.

 

Hema-Quebec is currently supplying about 30 percent of the total immune globulins to Quebec consumed in the whole country. The organization purchases US$663-million blood fractionation products from overseas every year. Jean de Serres, co-presidents and CEO of Hema-Quebec, said, "The latest agreement with Green Cross will help us secure a stable supply of immune globulins and ultimately self-sufficiency in blood products down the road."

 

Green Cross expects that it will be able to make over 300 billion won in sales revenue in the North American market. Kim Young-ho, president of Green Cross Biotherapeutics, Canadian local corporation owned by Green Cross, said, "In the beginning we will supply about 15 percent of the total globulin products in Canada to Quebec. Based on this, we will expand the market to the whole North America for our drugs for hemophilia A and Hunter syndrome."