By Ian Werther in News — 17 Mar 2026

Celltrion Secures Three-Year Biologics API Contract, 2027–2029, Expands Global CDMO Footprint

Celltrion announced that it has signed a three-year contract to supply biologics active pharmaceutical ingredients to a global pharmaceutical company from 2027 to 2029. The deal is valued at about 294.9 billion won, with a possible ceiling of up to 375.4 billion won, and production preparations will begin early to ensure a stable supply.

The company said the contract reflects its track record of high-quality production, stable supply capabilities, and efficient manufacturing processes that meet global standards, earning the client’s confidence.

The agreement adds to a rapidly expanding global CDMO business for Celltrion. Earlier this year, it signed a CMO contract with U.S. giant Eli Lilly worth about 678.7 billion won, and as of the first quarter the cumulative backlog for CDMO orders had reached around 1 trillion won.

Warming stripes graphic depicting annual mean global temperatures (1850-2018, from World Meteorological Organization data)), said in the reference to have been produced for the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) provisional State of the Climate report
General notes:

Credit for general concept of warming stripes: climate scientist Ed Hawkins, University of Reading, U.K.
Data values are visualized using color rather than locations of points on a graph.
Horizontal scale is time, from 1850 (left) to 2018 (right).
Data is global (not for a locality).
This is an early, original chart from Dr. Hawkins, and should not be updated as the years pass.
Update:

newer versions of the warming stripes under more permissive CC‑BY‑4.0 licensing available here: showyourstripes.info — Representative image for context; not directly related to the specific event in this article. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

To support growth, Celltrion is strengthening its global sales and project management capabilities through its subsidiary Celltrion Biosolutions, aiming to coordinate a broader CDMO footprint with clients worldwide.

Beyond traditional manufacturing, the company is pursuing a differentiated formulation CDMO model. It has developed subcutaneous formulation technologies during its RemsimaSC and HerzumaSC programs and is offering these capabilities to external customers as a form-factor CMO service.

In summer, some polar bears do not make the transition from their winter residence on the Svalbard islands to the dense drift ice and pack ice of the high arctic where they would find a plethora of prey. This is due to global climate change which causes the ice around the islands to melt much earlier than previously. The bears need to adapt from their proper food to a diet of detritus, small animals, bird eggs and carcasses of marine animals. Very often they suffer starvation and are doomed to die. The number of these starving animals is sadly increasing. — Representative image for context; not directly related to the specific event in this article. License: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Celltrion’s production capacity totals about 316,000 liters, with Songdo in Incheon hosting three plants (about 250,000 liters) and the Branchburg, New Jersey facility contributing about 66,000 liters.

Looking ahead, the group says it is weighing additional capacity expansions both domestically and abroad to meet growing global demand for biologics, while also planning to increase output for its own products, including Jimpentra, as well as new launches.

For U.S. readers, the development highlights how South Korea’s CDMOs are becoming critical nodes in global biologics supply chains. Large U.S. pharmaceutical companies increasingly rely on external manufacturing partners for complex biologics, and ongoing cross-border deals—including Celltrion’s New Jersey presence—illustrate deeper integration between U.S. and Korean biopharma ecosystems. The expansion of formulation and formulation-CDMO services could affect access, pricing, and resilience of biologic therapies in the American market.

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