Medytox to begin production at 3rd plant

Medytox, South Korea’s largest maker of botulinum toxin, said it has obtained regulatory approval for its new production plant in Osong, North Chungcheong Province.

The Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety granted production and sales approval on Friday to Medytox’s third plant in Osong, able to produce 600 billion won ($533 million) worth of botulinum toxin products annually.

With the approval, the new plant is set to begin commercial production this month, raising the firm’s production capacity so it can better address market demands, Medytox said.

“We have been driving up our production capacity to address rising global demands, but our supplies have always remained insufficient due to the market’s fast growth,” said Medytox CEO Jung Hyun-ho.

“The approval of our third plant expands our net production capacity by more than 10 times. This means we will no longer be experiencing issues with insufficient inventory (for the Korean market).”

Medytox currently operates two production plants in Osong, one of which produces around 60 billion won worth of botulinum toxins and another that produces 100 billion won worth of injectable dermal fillers. The addition of the third plant brings the firm’s net production capacity to 760 billion won.

As of now, only the smaller first plant manufactures anti-wrinkle fillers for the domestic market. The second plant has been exclusively set aside for Allergan, a multinational pharmaceutical company, which has licensed Medytox’s liquid-type botulinum toxin Innotox.

Given the limited capacity of its first plant, Medytox has been unable to meet local demand for its products. The addition of the third plant is expected to resolve this supply issue, Medytox said.

Local analysts on Monday suggested the new development will improve the firm’s overall earnings, starting from the third quarter of this year.

“The impact of the third plant’s added production capacity will take effect from the third quarter. In Korea, sales of Medytox’s botulinum toxins are expected to grow by close to 30 percent,” said Sun Min-jung, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment.

Looking ahead, the Korean drugmaker is currently working to build another production facility able to produce 400 billion won worth of injectable fillers that meets the US Food and Drug Administration’s cGMP standards as well the European Medicines Agency’s EU GMP regulations.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)