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South-Korea-based Green Cross Biotherapeutics (GCBT) has started construction of its $315-million intravenous immunoglobulin and albumin production facility, the only one of its kind in Canada. “This plant is the cornerstone of our global expansion strategy,” declared Il-Sup Huh, President of Green Cross Corporation. “From Montréal, we will supply the Canadian market and export to countries like the United States and China.”

Located in Technoparc Montréal’s Saint-Laurent Campus, the new 225,000-square-foot plant will serve as the group’s North American head office and employ 200 scientists, engineers, microbiologists, chemical engineers and other highly qualified professionals. “We are delighted to be joining the Québec life-sciences industry, a community that is world-renowned for its people, talents and capacity to innovate,” said Young-Ho Kim, GCBT’s President and CEO. 

Commercial production is expected to begin in 2019, with the new facility fractionating 1 million litres of plasma a year. When the plant is fully operational, GCBT expects its products to generate over $300 million in annual revenue, or over $500 million when all the products it distributes and imports are included.

The project is one of the first concluded under the new Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement and one of the largest greenfield investments in the Canadian biopharmaceutical industry. Investissement Québec provided an $8-million non-refundable financial contribution and a $17-million loan for the project, which is also receiving support from a partnership with Héma-Québec.

“Québec will be home to Green Cross’s first production facility in the Americas,” declared Jacques Daoust, Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Exports. “It’s further evidence that Québec offers a very attractive business environment for international companies that are interested in carrying out transformative investment projects here, especially in the life-sciences industry.”

About Green Cross

Headquartered in South Korea, Green Cross Corporation specializes in the development and manufacture of plasma derivatives, preventive vaccines, recombinant proteins and therapeutic antibodies. With its 15 subsidiaries, it employs about 3,000 people globally. Its subsidiary Green Cross Biotherapeutics, established in Québec since 2014, will be Canada’s only producer of intravenous immunoglobulin and albumin.