Boryung has secured a 383.7 billion won supply contract in China for Taxotere, the cancer drug whose global rights it acquired for about 290 billion won. The deal, its first major contract exceeding the acquisition price, comes about four months after the company completed the purchase of the global business rights from Sanofi in May.
Boryung said on the 22nd that it had signed a Taxotere supply contract worth a combined $277.14 million (about 383.7 billion won) with Chinese drugmaker Yifan Pharmaceutical. The seven-year agreement includes annual minimum purchase obligations and compensation terms that apply if purchase volumes fall short of the contracted amounts.
Boryung signed the acquisition agreement for Taxotere's global business with Sanofi last September and closed the transaction in May. The purchase price was 175 million euros, or about 290 billion won at the exchange rate at the time. The deal gave Boryung the marketing, manufacturing, distribution, licensing and trademark rights in 19 countries and territories, including South Korea, China, Germany and Spain.
At the time of the acquisition, some in the market questioned whether spending about 290 billion won on a product whose patent had expired was excessive. But analysts say the latest contract establishes a long-term revenue base by locking in large-scale demand for seven years in China, the largest market by sales among the countries covered by the Taxotere business. Taxotere's annual global sales were about 120 billion won as of 2024.
Boryung plans to continue supplying Taxotere through its existing production system while gradually shifting manufacturing to its Yesan campus after transferring production technology and obtaining regulatory approvals in each country. Over the medium to long term, the company aims to improve profitability by bringing active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production in-house and enhancing formulations.
Boryung has also raised its global business targets. The company had initially set a goal of 200 billion won in overseas revenue by 2030 but recently lifted that to more than 300 billion won. The revised target is seen as reflecting not only the Taxotere supply contract but also additional global brand acquisitions, expansion of contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) for cytotoxic anticancer drugs, and business restructuring. Kim Sung-jin, chief strategy officer at Boryung, said the company had "proven that its global essential medicines business is translating into actual revenue by securing long-term demand in China, the largest market."
