Humasis, a medical diagnostics company, said on Wednesday that it filed a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) against Celltrion, a biosimilar giant, for violating the Act on Fair Transactions in Subcontracting.
The FTC filing comes after Humasis is undergoing a legal battle against Celltrion after alleging that the latter unfairly terminated their joint research and product supply agreement for a Covid-19 diagnostic kit, with Humasis seeking about $41 million in payment for goods and 70 billion won ($53.4 million) in damages.
Humasis argues that Celltrion's unfair demands for price reductions and unilateral contract termination violated the subcontracting law.
In response, Celltrion filed a lawsuit against Humasis, claiming damages and refund of advance payments as it suffered damages due to Humasis not meeting the delivery date of the Covid-19 diagnostic kit.
Humasis is also proceeding with a lawsuit for payment of goods and damages based on Celltrion's refusal to perform and breach of contractual obligations.
During that time, Celltrion argued that it had placed orders with Humasis several times to supply supplies to the U.S. market from the second half of 2021 to early 2022, when demand for diagnostic kits surged as the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the U.S. soared.
"However, there were repeated situations where Humasis was unable to meet the scheduled delivery date," Celltrion said. "As a result, we were unable to supply diagnostic kits to the U.S. market in a timely manner, and our competitiveness in the local market suffered a major blow."
Regarding the matter, Humasis said despite never having claimed liquidated damages for delivery delays, Celltrion argued for contract termination, citing reasons such as delivery delays when the company did not accept its demands for price cuts.
"However, this is an unfair practice without legal basis," a Humasis official said.
Humasis Chairman Namgung Gyeon emphasized, "It is an act of tyranny and abuse for a large corporation to unilaterally demand excessive price reductions from a partner company citing poor sales."
Strict measures are necessary against such unfair practices, Namgung added.