Shin Yooyeol Appointed Co-CEO of Lotte Biologics... Bio Becomes Core Group Portfolio

Lotte Group Announces Executive Appointments on November 26
Shin Yooyeol, Executive Vice President of Lotte Corporation, Promoted to President

Shin Yooyeol, Executive Vice President and Head of Future Growth at Lotte Corporation, was promoted to President and CEO of Lotte Biologics on November 26, following the regular executive appointments carried out by Lotte Group. Lotte Biologics will now operate under a co-CEO system with James Park. Shin has previously overseen future growth, new business, and global strategies within the group, and is known to have participated in the review process for the bio business. This personnel change is interpreted as Lotte’s commitment to establishing the bio sector as a core portfolio at the group level.

Shin has been involved in the CDMO business since the early days of Lotte Biologics’ establishment in 2022, including the acquisition of the Syracuse plant in the United States, identifying global strategic partnerships, and modernizing CMO facilities. At the end of 2023, he was officially appointed as the head of the bio CDMO strategy organization, serving as both Head of Future Growth at Lotte Corporation and Head of Global Strategy at Lotte Biologics. Recently, he has actively participated in major bio healthcare events such as the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, BIO USA, and CPHI, directly attending these events, managing the company’s booth, and meeting with client companies, thereby taking a proactive role in managing the bio sector.

Lotte Group is positioning the bio sector as a core group portfolio through large-scale investments amounting to trillions of won. In 2022, Lotte Biologics made a full-scale entry into the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) market by acquiring the Syracuse plant of Bristol Myers Squibb in the United States for approximately 160 million dollars (about 200 billion won at the time). The plant has a capacity of 40,000 liters. It also possesses a production line for antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), considered a next-generation modality for therapeutic approaches. Last month, Chairman Shin Dongbin visited the Syracuse production facility in the United States for the first time, accompanied by President Shin Yooyeol and CEO James Park.

Lotte Biologics is accelerating its dual-site strategy, establishing production bases in both Syracuse, United States, and Songdo, Incheon. Currently, a CDMO manufacturing plant is under construction in Songdo, with the first plant aiming to begin operations in 2027. By 2030, the company plans to invest approximately 4.6 trillion won to build three plants with a combined capacity of 120,000 liters.

The biopharmaceutical CDMO market is expected to achieve double-digit annual growth rates, driven by an increasing proportion of outsourced production by global big pharma companies and rising demand for advanced biopharmaceuticals such as antibody, cell, and gene therapies. According to the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization, the global biopharmaceutical CDMO market is projected to grow from 21.8 billion dollars (about 3.2 trillion won) last year to 43.9 billion dollars (about 6.3 trillion won) by 2029, representing an average annual growth rate of 12.3%. Because biopharmaceuticals are structurally complex and require comprehensive management from development and approval to production, it is difficult for bio companies to independently invest in production facilities. This is why demand for CDMO services continues to rise.

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