Peptron(087010) said on the 3rd that to build a second plant under way at Osong Biopark in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, it signed a construction contract with GC EM, a subsidiary of GC녹십자.
Peptron plans to use this contract as a springboard to kick off full-scale construction of the second plant and proceed with work targeting completion in Feb. 2028. The second plant is a production facility designed to meet global development and commercialization expansion for medicines using the long-acting drug delivery platform "SmartDepot."
The plan is to build a production base that can handle not only the in-house pipeline but also clinical and commercial manufacturing demand from future global partnership expansion.
GC EM, the constructor, has experience with more than 500 projects in GMP plants and bio-research facilities. Peptron said it selected the builder considering its understanding of pharmaceutical and biotech production facilities and its experience building GMP facilities.
SmartDepot is a drug delivery platform that encapsulates drugs in microspheres based on PLGA, a biodegradable polymer, to sustain efficacy over a long period. Peptron is developing long-acting formulations of various peptide medicines based on this and has also secured manufacturing experience through a domestically commercialized product.
Peptron has continued joint research since signing a technology evaluation contract with Eli Lilly and Company in Oct. last year. Lilly is applying the SmartDepot technology to its peptide-based candidates to validate the potential for a once-monthly formulation.
With growing interest in long-acting formulations centered on chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity, the importance of manufacturing and quality control capabilities that can lead to commercial production is also increasing.
Peptron revised its disclosure to change the end date of the investment period to Feb. 15, 2028, in line with the construction schedule for the second plant. A company official said, "The second plant is core infrastructure to meet production demand from future global partnership expansion as well as the global development of our in-house pipeline," adding, "We will reliably build a production base that can connect SmartDepot's research and development results to global commercialization."