Celltrion announced its intention to construct a new drug product (DP) factory at its Songdo campus on Tuesday, to proactively address the rising demand.

For the construction of the new facility, Celltrion will commit to a phased investment of about 126 billion won ($95.3 million). The facility has already entered its design phase and is slated for completion by early 2026 and full-scale operation by 2027.

The new facility, which will be situated next to its existing first plant, will be capable of producing approximately 8 million liquid vials annually. With the expansion of this DP factory, Celltrion aims to internalize a greater proportion of its DP production, enhancing supply stability amidst sales growth.

Notably, the new DP factory will incorporate the latest manufacturing processes, enabling a production rate approximately 1.8 times higher than the current DP factory. This will be achieved even with a 20 percent reduction in per-part production staff.

The company stressed that the cost-saving impacts from reduced production costs and personnel will become evident once commercial production starts in earnest.

Once operational, Celltrion expects that the plant will reduce product costs by approximately 30 percent compared to the rates of products currently produced through contract manufacturing organizations (CMO) contracts.

Additionally, the company stressed that completing the new factory will enable a more focused production system for different products, alongside the existing second factory production line.

"This will minimize production changeovers, further elevating production efficiency," the company said. "To actively respond to the steadily increasing sales demand, the company plans to distribute DP production lines according to product types."

As Celltrion envisions unveiling a total of 22 products by 2030, the role and significance of the DP factory are expected to surge, it added.

An official from Celltrion remarked, "The expansion of the new DP plant is aimed at reducing production costs through internalization of production capacity and ultimately building an infrastructure that can respond quickly and effectively to increased demand for our products."

If sales demand growth remains steady, the company will consider expanding additional DP plants to further accelerate its efforts to secure a sustainable future growth engine, he added.