"Small-sized biopharmaceutical factory will be leading the trends"

Olivier Loeillot, General Manager of BioProcess at GE Healthcare Life Sciences

"A locally optimized small factory will emerge as a new trend in the biopharmaceutical market."

Olivier Loeillot, General Manager, BioProcess at GE Healthcare Life Sciences, said in an interview with the Korea Economic Daily on May 15, where he predicted "the future will be different from today where large-scale biopharmaceutical factories have dominated the market."

It is a contrasting view to the reality where Samsung BioLogics and Celltrion are competing for plant expansion on a large scale.

"The larger the plant, the economies of scale can be achieved, but for biopharmaceutical business, cost saving for production is not so as significant. Going forward, optimized factories will gain attention in consideration of regulatory approval, marketing and distribution costs," he said.

His prediction is based on the fact that there are an increasing number of cases in which small-sized smart factories with low upfront capex and a short construction period are being deployed around the world. Pfizer's $350 million biopharmaceutical plant under construction in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China is a case in point.

The company introduced modular assembly plant 'KUBio' from GE Healthcare. Like LEGO blocks, it consists of 62 modules that cover electricity, water, piping and air conditioning facilities, which are delivered and assembled locally.

"It is possible to build a plant in 12 months at half the cost of the existing plant. Above all, the proven facilities guarantee production quality and safety. These factories will be built in four locations in China alone until next year," said Mr. Loeillot.

"We expect the number of these factories to increase to 15 by 2025,” adding, “Korea, too, will be able to improve its competitiveness by adopting small-scale local production methods which can complement its current focus on mass production,” Mr. Loeillot added.

Mr. Loeillot who visited Korea on May 13 took a tour of Samsung BioLogics and Celltrion plants in Songdo, Incheon. Both companies are GE Healthcare's largest customers.

"The US and Korea will complete in the global biosimilar market as Samsung and Celltrion are leading the relevant market" he said.

Reporter, Ye-jin JUN ace@hankyung.com