Celltrion Group signed a business agreement on Jan. 20 for the establishment of a "bio drug production plant" with a large number of officials from Celltrion Group, Hubei Province and Wuhan City in central China's largest city of Wuhan.
The city of Wuhan is already home to some 300 pharmaceutical bio R&D centers and companies, and is rapidly rising as a base for advancing China's bio industry, as well as a platform for product development and commercialization with the active support of the provincial government.
Celltrion Group plans to build a 120,000-liter bio drug production facility, the largest in China. The Chinese plant will not only produce bio drugs, but will also carry out large-scale CMO production to supply China's domestic market. In addition, Celltrion Group also plans to establish a direct sales network for medicine sales in China to tap the local domestic market in earnest.
Celltrion Group plans to spend more than 600 billion won on facility investment alone over five years until 2025. The investment funds will be provided by the group's own cash reserves and attracting outside investment.
"China is a market where demand for high-quality medicines is high and the second largest in the world. Since Celltrion Group has directly entered the Chinese market, we will provide world-class Celltrion biosimilar drugs to Chinese patients as soon as possible, so that we can focus all our capabilities on making a second leap forward," said Celltrion Vice President Ki Woo-sung.
"We sincerely welcome Celltrion’s excellent development capabilities, which has grown into a global bio-medicine leader since its establishment in 2002, and the decision to host large-scale plant that comply with global standards," said Ma GuoQiang, head of the Wuhan City Council and vice head of the Hubei Provincial Committee.
