First Foreign Investment in Sejong City
A Singaporean government-funded research institute will invest US$41 million in Sejong Tech Valley of the Sejong City Administrative Complex to establish a biopharmaceutical developing and manufacturing company.
The National Agency for Administrative City Construction (NAACC) said on May 28 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Prestige Bio Research (PBR) of the Singapore Bio Research Institute on the planned project.
The PBR is planning to make the investment over the next five years to set up the company, dubbed Abtheron, on a 13,000 square meters site in Sejong Tech Valley.
The NAACC will provide administrative support for a smooth operation of Abtheron. It plans to designate the plant site as the city’s first foreign investment zone.
The PBR has been awarded the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) system by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The research institute invested 50 billion won in a domestic company last year, according to the NAACC.
Abtheron plans to manufacture and sell next-generation biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of incurable cancer and to conduct quality tests on biopharmaceuticals. A total of 385 billion won will be invested by 2022, with 120 workers hired by 2017.
Lee Won-jae, head of the NAACC, said the city will continue to attract excellent companies and create a cluster of industrial companies, the academia and research institutes.