SK Biotek Co., the pharmaceutical unit of South Korean energy and telecom conglomerate SK Group, said Friday it has held an opening ceremony for its plant in Ireland, the latest attempt to expand its presence in the global market. (Image: SK Biotek)
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — SK Biotek Co., the pharmaceutical unit of South Korean energy and telecom conglomerate SK Group, said Friday it has held an opening ceremony for its plant in Ireland, the latest attempt to expand its presence in the global market.
SK Biotek purchased the plant in Swords from New York-based pharmaceutical firm Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in June last year, becoming the first South Korean pharmaceutical company to invest in the European country, it said.
The facility, with an annual production capacity of 81,000 liters, currently manufactures ingredients for a number of medicines, including Eliquis, a drug used to lower the risk of stroke by blood clot, according to SK Biotek.
SK Biotek is planning to expand the production site as well as add research and development and marketing talent to make the facility into the firm’s outpost to tap deeper into the European market, it said.
“We will share our technology and experience with the Swords plant to maximize synergy and strengthen marketing efforts to grow into a global contract manufacturing organization worth over 4 trillion won by 2020,” SK Biotek CEO Park Jun-ku said in a press release.
The launch of SK Biotek’s new plant in the European country accompanies efforts to expand its businesses in the overseas market. Earlier this month, SK Biotek launched a marketing office in the United States.
(Yonhap)
