Lotte will invest $3 billion over the next seven years to construct three ‘mega’ plants in Korea with a production capacity of 360,000 L.
Contract development manufacturing organization (CDMO) Lotte Biologics said each plant will have the ability to produce 120,000 L of antibody drugs. Furthermore, the plants will have additional expansion plans to include a small-scale incubator for clinical drug substance manufacture and a commercial drug product production facility.
The build-out of its first plant will start in the second half of this year and the firm anticipates competition to occur during the second half of 2025. The CDMO will then aim for good manufacturing practice (GMP) approval in the second half of 2026, followed by commercial manufacturing in 2027.
DepositPhotos/
Elnur_
Overall, Lotte intends to have all three plants fully operational by 2034 and claims the facilities will generate a revenue of $3 billion while operating a profit margin of 35%.
Richard Won-jik Lee, CEO told delegates at the JP Morgan conference earlier this month about the firm’s mid-to-long-term vision over the next 10 years and that “with a dual-track growth strategy that includes both acquisition and new construction, Lotte plans to quickly establish itself as a key player in the CDMO market and further strengthen its business competitiveness.”
The site, which will house the three plants, will also include a Bio-Venture Initiative for start-ups and venture companies to make use of Lotte’s facilities and form a place for collaboration. Additionally, the CDMO said the site will include a Lotte Bio Campus.
In May 2022, Lotte announced plans to buy Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (BMS) facility in East Syracuse, New York to serve its CDMO business in the US. The deal closed on January 1st this year and includes the equipment, property, plant, workforce, and technical capabilities.
The firm is also looking at expanding its footprint in North America by securing contract development facilities in what it describes as “core-bio clusters” in cities such as San Francisco and Boston. The company named MilliporeSigma as its preferred bioprocess vendor to support its US-based CDMO business in July 2022.
The CDMO has also suggested it will expand into antibody drug conjugate (ADC) services from the facility, as well as drug substance and drug product.
Fellow Korean-based CDMO Samsung Biologics told this publication in December 2022 that it is looking at moving into the ADC market and that it has space free at its plant number four to add capability.
You May Also Like
