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Lotte Biologics has completed the acquisition process to take over the manufacturing facility of Bristol Myers Squibb in Syracuse, New York, for $160 million. The drug manufacturing unit of the Lotte Group confirmed the deal on Tuesday, Jan. 3.
With the addition of Bristol Myers Squibb’s plant in Lotte Biologics’ property portfolio, the fifth-largest retail-chemical company in South Korea has officially jumped into the contract manufacturing business. This acquisition also comes after the Lotte Group launched Lotte Biologics, a biological CDMO (Contract Development Manufacturing Organization), in June 2022.
As per The Korea Herald, the company actually completed the takeover of the Bristol Myers Squibb facility on Dec. 31. All of its existing manufacturing contract agreements for drug production are also included in the acquisition. It was reported that these deals are worth $220 million and deliveries are to be carried out over the next three years.
The South Korean CDMO firm also revealed its plans to invest $70 million to upgrade the manufacturing facility in Syracuse. This investment will add manufacturing lines for drug substances, antibody-drug conjugates, and other drug products.
As Lotte Biologics buys Bristol Myers Squibb's manufacturing facility, it will also be creating around 70 jobs, and they will be assigned to various roles at the plant. This will be an addition to the existing BMS workforce, which is said to be 450 in number.
“Based on the successful acquisition of the Syracuse Plant, Lotte Biologics will emerge as a global CDMO that can achieve 1.5 trillion KRW in sales, a 30% operating margin, and a corporate value of 20 trillion KRW by 2030 by providing innovative medicines to patients,” Lotte Biologics’ chief executive officer, Richard Lee, said in a press release. “We will continue to grow at a rapid pace.”
The CEO further said that his goal is to successfully establish the company as a new growth engine for the Lotte Group. Lee will work on achieving this ambition by signing partnership deals with some global pharmaceutical companies and securing other bio ventures.
