Seo Jung-jin, honorary chairman of Celltrion Group, will return to management after leaving the company two years ago to start anew as a startup entrepreneur.

Celltrion Group's major affiliates – Celltrion Holdings, Celltrion, Celltrion Healthcare, and Celltrion Pharma – held separate board meetings on Friday and recommended the honorary chairman Seo as a candidate for director and co-chairman of the board of directors for all four companies for a two-year term.

According to Celltrion, the recommendation comes after the current management requested Seo's return as the company is currently reorganizing future strategies amid growing uncertainty in the global economy.

The appointment will be finalized after the approval of each company shareholders’ meetings and board of directors on March 28.

Seo had previously revealed his retirement plan in 2020, and left in March 2021. 

During that time, Seo had expressed his desire to begin as a startup entrepreneur and focus on blood testing.

However, as the global economic crisis is expected to be more serious than initially expected, Celltrion Group requested the return of Chairman Seo to expand the company’s global market share. 

Celltrion Group is concentrating its efforts on creating a sustainable growth engine in the U..S. and has high expectations that Seo will actively lead decision-making on key issues.

Celltrion Healthcare's direct sales system in the U.S. is preparing for the full-scale operation and Celltrion's next biosimilar products, Vegzelma, a biosimilar referencing Avastin (ingredient: bevacizumab) to treat various cancers, and Yuflyma, a biosimilar referencing Humira (ingredient: adalimumab) to treat autoimmune diseases, are about to be approved and released in the U.S.

Also, Remsima SC (ingredient: infliximab), a biosimilar referencing Remicade to treat autoimmune diseases, is also undergoing product approval review from the U.S. FDA. The company hopes to win the permit by the end of this year.

"In a situation where there are a lot of pending issues, such as the approval and launch of strategic products, the securing of new drug pipelines, and mergers of affiliates, as well as the economic crisis, the group believed that it required the quick judgment and decision-making that only Chairman Seo can provide," a company official said.