Daewoong Pharmaceutical signed a 210 billion won ($188.3 million) worth investment deal with North Chungcheong Province to build a factory.

The new facility will be designed to comply with current good manufacturing practices, better known as cGMPs, U.S. standards for design, monitoring, and control of pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Under the deal, signed during the 4th Herald Creative Economy Forum on Friday in Seoul, the Korean drugmaker said the company would construct the facility by 2016 within Osong BioValley, a bio industry cluster under construction in North Chungcheong Province.

“The partnership between the company and the province will give a boost to advance Osong BioValley into a biomedical hub in Korea,” Daewoong Pharmaceutical president Lee Jong-wook said in a statement.

“As a future growth engine, the facilities in Osong will play a vital role in making Daewoong grow into a global player,” he added.

The factory in Osong will cover 66,000 square meters and is expected to bring about 300 new jobs in the area.

The investment is part of the provincial government’s recent deals with three medical firms ― Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Medical Group Bestian and Joonghung Meditech.

The total value of the three investment projects reached about 330 billion won, the provincial officials said.

Located next to the municipal administrative city of Sejong, Osong BioValley is developing as the country’s largest bio industry cluster, which will open in 2018.

Officials explained that Daewoong’s production line in Osong is completely equipped with infrastructures that can conduct research and clinical trials for the bio industry.

So far, the North Chungcheong provincial government has attracted 10 university research centers, including one from Semyung University, to the bio cluster.

By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)