SK Pharmteco in talks to sell Virginia plant to Novo Nordisk

SK Pharmteco, a contract development manufacturing organization affiliated with SK Group, is considering selling its manufacturing plant in Virginia to Danish pharmaceuticals company Novo Nordisk, according to industry sources Wednesday.

The Petersburg, Virginia plant is an active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facility that encompasses over 600,000 square meters and has 188 cubic meters of capacity. SK Pharmteco has operated the facility since it acquired it from Ampac Fine Chemicals in 2018 for around 800 billion won ($576 million).

A local news report said SK Group is in talks with Novo Nordisk to sell the plant for about 300 billion won, less than half the acquisition price.

An SK Pharmteco official, however, denied the talks, saying, “We are open to all options but currently we are not reviewing disposal of any specific site to a particular buyer at the moment.”

The sales rumor comes as Novo Nordisk is seeking to scale up its production capacity to meet the soaring demand for its hugely popular weight-loss drug Wegoby.

On Monday, Novo Nordisk announced that it will spend $4.1 billion building a second fill-finish plant at its sprawling campus in Clayton, North Carolina. In February, Novo Nordisk also announced its purchase of the New Jersey-based pharmaceutical firm Catalent to increase the Wegoby supply.

“SK Pharmteco’s pharmaceutical ingredient site in Virginia is likely one of several production sites that Novo Nordisk considers buying to boost its manufacturing capacity of Wegovy and Ozempic (its blood sugar modulating treatment),” an industry source said. The source added that the deal could not reach the reported 300 billion won.