Celltrion Begins Production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients at Third Plant... Secures 250,000ℓ Production Capacity

Maximizing Supply Capacity through Specialization in Small-Quantity, Multi-Variety Production

Celltrion announced on the 5th that its third plant located in Songdo, Incheon has completed processes such as performance qualification and has commenced commercial production of active pharmaceutical ingredients.

The third plant has a total floor area of approximately 22,300㎡ and is a five-story building above ground. It was completed after about 27 months of construction from September 2021 to November last year, with an investment of around 270 billion KRW. With the full-scale operation of the 60,000ℓ third plant, Celltrion now has a total biopharmaceutical production capacity of 250,000ℓ, including the first plant (100,000ℓ) and the second plant (90,000ℓ).

Celltrion stated that the third plant focuses on "small-volume production of multiple products" to predict drug demand and quickly respond to market changes. They also explained plans to enhance economic efficiency by producing high-titer products that increase efficiency to produce more biopharmaceuticals from the same volume of culture medium.

To this end, the third plant is equipped with eight 7,500ℓ bioreactors, new culture process facilities that shorten cell proliferation stages, and the latest automation technologies. It is designed with cleanrooms in areas vulnerable to contamination, applies high-concentration dilution methods in the purification process, and optimizes the size of piping and tanks. Some equipment has been localized to improve maintenance and contribute to domestic production realization.

With the third plant entering full-scale commercial production, the production of new biosimilars and follow-up pipelines for which Celltrion is currently obtaining approvals in major overseas countries will gain momentum. Celltrion plans to continue commercial production of existing products at plants 1 and 2, while simultaneously producing both existing and developing new products at plant 3 to increase utilization rates and create synergy. Based on this, they aim to obtain approval for a total of 11 products by next year and 22 products by 2030 to supply them worldwide.

A company representative said, "With the commencement of commercial production at the third plant, Celltrion has opened an era of biopharmaceutical production with a total capacity of 250,000ℓ. We will do our best to maximize production flexibility and efficiency through a small-volume multi-product production system and supply high-quality biopharmaceuticals worldwide."

Meanwhile, Celltrion is also constructing a new finished dosage form (DP) plant within the Songdo campus, targeting completion in 2026. Once the DP plant begins full-scale commercial production from 2027, Celltrion expects to respond more quickly to increasing product demand and reduce costs through internalization of production capacity.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.