바이오스펙테이터

by Sungmin Kim

German life science company Sartorius announced on the 12th of their MOU for cooperation in the supply of raw and subsidiary materials to Samsung Biologics and Celltrion by visiting their headquarters located in Incheon Songdo.

Under the agreement, Sartorius plans to supply biopharmaceutical raw and subsidiary materials such as disposable single use bags, cell culture media and filters to both companies in a stable manner. Prior to this, Sartorius submitted a letter of intent to invest $100 million (about 120 billion won) in Songdo Biocluster to the Incheon Economic Office on Monday.

For this plan, Sartorius purchased 24,333 square meters of land in Songdo for research and development and manufacturing related to disposable single use bags and cell culture media, which are major products in the biopharmaceutical process aiming to complete the plant in 2022.

The Sartorius Songdo campus plans to respond to demand from the growth of the Korean biopharmaceutical industry, which is more than 20 percent, and use it as a base for exporting high-tech, high-value products to markets around the world beyond Asia in the future.

Duk-Sang Kim, CEO of Sartorius Korea Biotech, the Korean branch of Sartorius, said, "The investment decision was based on the potential of the rapidly developing Korean biomarket, the attractiveness of Songdo as a biocluster, and active support from both Samsung Biologics and Celltrion in the Songdo Biocluster. He said, "Through this MOU, we expect to be able to supply products to customers at a faster and more competitive price."

Meanwhile, Sartorius, founded in Germany in 1870, is a global company that supplies products and equipment related to research and process in the life science field, and supports related technical services. It currently has more than 60 sites around the world, with 10,000 employees and 1.83 billion euros in sales (about 2.4 trillion won).