Green Cross Expands Biologics Business to North America

Green Cross, a South Korean biopharmaceutical company, has announced that it will build a new biologics manufacturing facility in Canada, as part of the company’s efforts to expand its biologics business to North America.

The plant will be located in Montréal, Québec. The company anticipates the new plant will be the Canada’s only plasma-fractionation facility.

Green Cross Biotherapeutics (GCBT), a new subsidiary of Green Cross, has signed an agreement on the 4th of April with Investissement Québec to receive a financial commitment totalling CAD 25 million for the proposed project.

Green Cross projects the total capital expenditure at the new site to exceed CAD 180 million over the next 5 years.

"This investment will demonstrate our long-term dedication to the patients in the North American region who rely on plasma-derived medicines, and will create hundreds of full-time positions in Montréal" said Il-sup Huh, Chairman and CEO of Green Cross.

Construction will begin later this year, with commercial production scheduled to begin in 2019. The new facility will have the capacity to fractionate up to 1 million litres of plasma a year. 

The Green Cross products that will be manufactured in Canada includes Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) for patients with infectious and immune disorders and albumin products to treat burns and clotting factor for bleeding disorders.

GCBT has also signed an agreement on the same day with Héma-Québec to supply Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) as soon as production begins at the new plant. With this agreement GCBT will supply IVIGs to Héma-Québec for the period of 5 years with 3 year or more renewal options.

“North America is an extremely important market for us. The market for IVIG particularly is booming with Canada one of the world's highest per capita users, and North America constitutes more than 40% of the global plasma-products market" said Young-Ho Kim, President of GCBT. "We expect the annual sales will reach up to CAD 300 million over the next 10 years."

"We look forward to delivering the safe and high-quality medicines to Canadians, and we will make our best efforts to provide our plasma based products to patients in other parts of the region as well."