The way Korean pharmaceutical companies expand overseas is changing. In the past, it was common to license out new drug candidates to global pharmaceutical companies or target overseas markets with generics. Recently, cases have emerged in which companies directly acquire the original drug businesses owned by global pharmaceutical firms and run the entire operation, from sales and approvals to manufacturing.
The first case is Boryung(003850). Boryung acquired the global business of the anticancer drug "Taxotere" from the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi and completed related procedures in June this year. As a result, it secured the overall business for Taxotere, including distribution rights, marketing rights, license rights, manufacturing rights, and trademark rights, in 19 countries and regions including Korea, China, Germany, and Spain.
A Boryung official said, "Starting last month, revenue related to Taxotere began to be reflected in our results." Taxotere is an original anticancer drug that posted about €70 million (about 100 billion won) in global revenue last year.
Taxotere (ingredient name docetaxel) is a cytotoxic anticancer drug used to treat various solid tumors, including breast cancer, Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), prostate cancer, gastric cancer, and head and neck cancer. Docetaxel is listed on the World Health Organization (WHO) Model List of Essential Medicines and has continued to serve as a key agent in combination therapies even after the spread of immunotherapies and targeted therapies.
However, cytotoxic anticancer drugs are difficult to manufacture. The production process requires advanced safety facilities and specialized personnel, but profitability is relatively low, so supply instability has been recurring as some global pharmaceutical companies scale back production.
Boryung took note of this market shift. With demand steady but the number of corporations with production capabilities shrinking, the company judged it could secure competitiveness in the global supply chain based on its own manufacturing capacity.
This strategy is underpinned by experience internalizing the production of original drugs. Boryung previously acquired the domestic businesses of the anticancer drugs "Gemzar" and "Alimta" and the psychiatric medication "Zyprexa" from global pharmaceutical companies, and has pursued production technology transfer and the establishment of its own manufacturing systems.
In particular, after transferring production technology for Alimta to its own facilities, the company improved the formulation and recently expanded overseas by supplying it to Lotus in Taiwan. Based on this experience, Boryung plans to internalize Taxotere production in stages as well.
The company is currently conducting a production technology transfer (tech transfer) for Taxotere. Supply timing may vary depending on approval schedules by country, but given its experience switching production of existing original drugs, the company expects it will take around two years.
The production base is the Yesan Campus, which has European Union (EU) Good Manufacturing Practice (EU-GMP) certification for pharmaceuticals. Boryung plans to develop the site into a global production and supply base for Taxotere and, leveraging its anticancer manufacturing capabilities, expand its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business.
The acquisition goes beyond securing a single product. Starting with Taxotere, Boryung plans to expand its portfolio of original anticancer drugs and grow its overseas business for CDMO and its own new drug "Kanarb Family" to broaden its global business base. The company set a goal of achieving more than 200 billion won in annual export revenue by 2030 through global product sales and the CDMO business.