Dive Brief:
- Lotte announced last week it completed a $160 million acquisition of Bristol Myers Squibb’s biopharmaceutical production plant in New York, marking the start of its foray into contract biomanufacturing.
- The South Korea-based conglomerate acquired a fully operational facility in East Syracuse, and retained nearly all of the plant’s approximately 450-person workforce, according to the release.
- Under the deal, subsidiary Lotte Biologics will manufacture BMS orders for multiple years at the site, with consignment production of additional biopharmaceuticals starting this month.
Dive Insight:
Lotte’s acquisition of a well-established biopharmaceutical production facility positions the company to more quickly scale and expand its new contract and development manufacturing organization.
“In most cases, when a new firm enters the CDMO business by building a new plant, the entire process from establishment to commercial production takes at least five years,” Lotte said.
The company also leveraged the site’s talent pool, which is skilled in biopharmaceutical product development, approval, and commercial production process, according to the press release.
In addition to experienced employees, Lotte said the facility has “outstanding capabilities” in both clinical and commercial manufacturing, including capacity for 35,000 liter bioreactors for antibody drug substance manufacturing.
The antibody drug market makes up 70% of the total pharmaceutical drug market, according to the company. Lotte sees North America as the largest area of research and manufacturing for the biologics market, making it an attractive region for potential customers.
“We believe this experienced and state-of-the-art facility would be the best fit for our plan to extend global pharma operations,” CEO of Lotte Corporation Richard Lee said in a statement.
Moving forward, Lotte Biologics is reviewing $70 million expansion plans for additional production facilities for drug product and antibody drugs for treating cancer.
