New Jersey facility aims to mitigate tariff risks, expand CDMO capacity
Celltrion on Tuesday announced the official beginning of its new biopharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Branchburg, New Jersey. The opening of its first American production site seeks to ease the risk of tariff uncertainties and set up a stable supply chain in the United States.
“We will expand the Branchburg production facilities into an integrated (contract development and manufacturing organization) site, which will include a research and development center, and turn in into a key growth pillar for global growth along with the Songdo headquarters,” said Celltrion Chair and founder Seo Jung-jin, in his welcoming speech during the launch ceremony at the US foothold on Monday.
The launch ceremony came after Celltrion last week said it had completed the $330 million acquisition of Eli Lilly’s plant, which includes manufacturing facilities with a production capacity of 66,000 liters of drug substance. The Korean company announced the acquisition in September.
Seo announced last month that Celltrion plans to ramp up the site’s production to double its capacity to 132,000 liters with a 700 billion won ($485 million) investment. The expansion is scheduled to take place in two phases, with the company planning to add three 11,000-liter bioreactors over the next three years, and three more over five years.
Celltrion officially appointed Todd Winge, former head of the Branchburg site, as the new leader of Celltrion Branchburg and retained the existing skilled workforce to ensure the continuity of production and operational stability in the wake of the acquisition.
Celltrion also clinched a four-year, 678.7 billion won drug substance manufacturing contract with Eli Lilly to give the Branchburg site a running start.
According to Celltrion, Sen. Andy Kim, Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. of New Jersey, and Branchburg Township Mayor Thomas Young attended the launch ceremony to commemorate the beginning of a new era for the site. Rep. Kean gifted a US national flag to the Korean company’s US site.
Celltrion noted that the acquisition of Eli Lilly’s facility with current good manufacturing practice, or cGMP, certification has minimized the cost of setting up a new production site from scratch while bolstering its global manufacturing network as a strategic forefront of creating new business opportunities.
“The opening of the Branchburg facility marks an important turning point, going beyond simply securing a US production foothold and advancing our global production and supply system,” said a Celltrion official.
“Through local production, we will completely remove any tariff risks and strengthen our global CDMO capabilities to complete the leap into becoming a global big pharma.”
hwkan@heraldcorp.com
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