Peptron said on the 16th it received approval from Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, to build a new plant on about 5,000 pyeong of idle land at its Osong Bio Park in the Osong Advanced Medical Complex. The new plant is a facility for producing peptide-based long-acting drugs.
With this permit, Peptron will be able to build a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility by investing a total of 89 billion won. The company plans to develop the plant into a facility that can mass-produce long-acting drugs in compliance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) current good manufacturing practice (cGMP).
The new plant is expected to become a production hub for long-acting drugs based on Peptron's core drug-delivery technology, the "SmartDepot" platform. SmartDepot is a technology that extends the dosing interval of peptide drugs, which have short half-lives and must be administered daily or once a week, to one month, three months, and up to six months. It is seen as reducing patients' dosing burden and improving treatment adherence.
Peptron's strategy is to proactively respond to the fast-growing global demand for peptide long-acting drugs through this investment. In particular, as the market for glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)-based obesity and diabetes treatments expands, global pharmaceutical companies are showing greater interest in long-acting formulations that can be administered once a month.
Choi Ho-il, CEO of Peptron, said, "The construction of the new plant will serve as an opportunity to elevate Peptron's competitiveness in the global market for peptide-based long-acting drugs," adding, "Based on a proven large-scale production facility, we will expand opportunities for collaboration with global pharmaceutical companies."