Known production capacity was 720 million doses but can produce up to 1.4 billion doses
800 billion KRW invested in bio factory · 2.1 trillion KRW in chemical factory
Providing one-stop solution combining chemical and bio pharmaceuticals
[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Ilyeon Pharmaceutical is showing strong performance. Expectations surrounding the Chungju plant, which can produce plasmid DNA (pDNA), a raw material for cell and gene therapies, appear to be influencing the stock price. Following the reevaluation of corporate value driven by the biopharmaceutical plant, anticipation is growing as the completion of the chemical plant approaches. Ilyeon Pharmaceutical invested 80 billion KRW in the bio plant and 210 billion KRW in the chemical plant. It was introduced that there are not many places worldwide capable of mass-producing cell and gene therapies.
As of 9:43 AM on the 3rd, Ilyeon Pharmaceutical is trading at 59,900 KRW, up 7.35% from the previous day.
Yoo Yonghwan, CEO of Ilyeon Pharmaceutical, stated in an interview with an economic media outlet the day before, "The Chungju complex can effectively cover everything related to biopharmaceuticals and provides a one-stop solution that enables large-scale finished product production from their raw materials."
He added, "Looking at recent trends in biopharmaceutical development, many projects are proceeding in a combined form of chemical drugs, represented by organic synthetic substances, and biopharmaceuticals. There is practically no other plant besides Chungju that can produce these from start to finish, from 1 to 10, all the way to commercialization."
It was reported that once the Chungju plant is completed, it can produce 720 million doses annually based on mRNA vaccines, but the company explained that if operated at maximum capacity, production of over 1.4 billion doses is possible. The certification process for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) is expected to be achievable as early as the first half of next year. Inquiries related to production are continuing from domestic as well as overseas pharmaceutical companies. It is also known that companies related to COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics are among them.
Ilyeon Pharmaceutical began reviewing mRNA technology before the COVID-19 pandemic. It expects results from this important pipeline around the first half of 2023.
Meanwhile, a pharmaceutical industry media outlet reported that the Chungju chemical plant, in which Ilyeon Pharmaceutical invested 210 billion KRW, will be completed in November. This is about five months earlier than the originally scheduled completion date of March next year. With the plant’s completion date moving up, the full-scale operation is also expected to start sooner. Construction of the chemical plant began in February 2019 to expand supply capacity and secure competitiveness through the construction of a cGMP-grade plant. In May of this year, the investment scale was increased by 50 billion KRW from the original 160 billion KRW to 210 billion KRW.
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