South Korea’s Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. is set to embark on medicine production at its newest and largest factory in the country that is expected to serve as its global manufacturing base.

The company on Wednesday unveiled its new manufacturing facility in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, designed mainly to produce drugs for export.

Built on a site of 66,000 square meters, the new facility with a total floor area of 37,000 square meters is the company’s largest drug manufacturing facility in Korea. Daewoong Pharmaceutical invested 210 billion won ($188.8 million) in building it.

The plant that obtained Korea Good Manufacturing Practice (KGMP) certification from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will produce solid formulation for 2 billion tablets per year of its flagship medications Ursa that helps improve liver function as well as diabetes treatment Diabex and gastritis treatment Albis tablets. It will also produce 600,000 vials of prostate cancer medication Luphere.

According to Daewoong Pharmaceutical, the new plant would guarantee cost competitiveness and outstanding quality of its drugs thanks to the automated distribution solution and 24-hour non-stop manufacturing system at the factory that meets quality assurance standard for medical products acknowledged by U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical expects the new facility in Osong will become a global manufacturing base for the company and enable the company to achieve its 3 trillion won sales target set by 2020.

By Kim Hye-soon and Lee Eun-joo

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