Chong Kun Dang Pharm. held a ceremony in Cikarang, Indonesia on July 9 to mark the completion of its joint venture CKD-OTTO's anti-cancer drug production plant.
Attending the ceremony were Indonesian Health and Welfare Minister Nila Farid Moeloek, Food and Drug Administration Director Penny Lukito, Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Kim Chang-beom, Won Hee-mok, chairman of the Korea Pharmaceutical Bio Association, and Chong Kun Dang Chairman Lee Jang-han and President Kim Young-joo. Also on hand were Jimmy Sudharta, chairman of Mensa Group, an Indonesian joint venture, and officials from the Indonesian Pharmaceutical Association.
Chong Kun Dang established CKD-OTTO, a joint venture with Indonesian drug maker OTTO, in September 2015. In July 2016, the company broke ground for its anti-cancer drug production plant at the Cikarang Industrial Estate, located 50 kilometers from Jakarta.
It won GMP approval from the Indonesian government in September last year. In February this year, it received a halal certification from Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) and completed the construction as Indonesia's first halal-certified anti-cancer drug plant.
The $30 million-invested CKD-OTTO anti-cancer drug plant is a two-story building with a floor area of 12,588 square meters. It has EU-GMP-level facilities and can produce about 1.6 million vials per year. It has completed test production by transferring production technology and operating system of Chong Kun Dang.
It plans to use the anti-cancer drug plant, which has been certified as halal, as a base for advancing into the ASEAN Economic Community, including Islamic countries with a population of 2 billion. It plans to expand its market to North Africa and Europe in the future, using it as a bridgehead for global expansion.
"Indonesia is a market for opportunities that are large in size and growth. In the year when the anti-cancer drug factory starts commercial production, the company plans to make inroads into the global market by using it as the first year of its global expansion," said Chairman Lee.
