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| Joerg Ahlgrimm, the new CEO of SK pharmteco poses at the company's booth during the CPHI bio pharmaceutical exhibition in Frankfurt, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul |
By Baek Byung-yeul
FRANKFURT ― Joerg Ahlgrimm, the new CEO of SK pharmteco, vowed Tuesday that his goal as a chief executive is to make the SK Group's contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) company one of the best players in the global cell and gene therapy (CGT) CDMO business.
"We have technological leadership in the CDMO field and my goal is to create a significant competitive advantage for our customers," Ahlgrimm told The Korea Times at the company's booth in the CPHI bio pharmaceutical exhibition.
SK pharmteco is SK Inc.'s global CDMO subsidiary, having manufacturing facilities in Europe, the United States and Korea. The company has been improving its CDMO capability by acquiring French company Yposkesi in 2021 and becoming the second-largest shareholder of U.S.-based cell and gene therapy CDMO service provider, CBM, this year.
The company said it appointed Ahlgrimm as its new CEO, recognizing his expertise in the CDMO business. Previously, he served as a head of Lonza AG's global operations for pharma and biotech. Prior to Lonza, he oversaw the manufacturing network of 17 plants at Baxalta, Baxter International's bio-science division.
When asked to elaborate on his role in SK pharmteco's partnership with CBM, Ahlgrimm said, "I would be responsible for leveraging the strengths of all SK pharmteco entities, of which CBM has many."
He added, "Overall, like we are working with Yposkesi already, I would look to leverage technology, share resources, co-market across business units and utilize the full network to mitigate business continuity risks, where possible. CBM will be a significant growth engine for SK pharmteco so I would ensure that CBM has the necessary resources and investments to deliver on their targets," he said.
Together with CBM and Yposkesi, the CEO said that SK pharmteco will be able to create significant synergy. "CBM and Yposkesi are already collaborating, including a recent visit to CBM by some senior members of the Yposkesi team to discuss market insights, capabilities, opportunities to leverage their collective capacity and capabilities, and support each organization. We will see more of that come in the future," he said.
As he said, SK pharmteco aims to cement its global position in the contract gene therapy market, which has shown the fastest growth in the biomedicine sector.
Yposkesi looks to receive more orders, as its second plant is expected to be completed in 2023. CBM also plans to complete the first construction phase of its new plant backed by SK's investment, aiming to build the world's largest single-site advanced therapies facility.
"The construction ambitions for CBM are extraordinary in that we are concurrently designing, constructing, commissioning, validating and bringing in multiple biotech facilities, such as labs and manufacturing, inside a shell that needed to be fully retrofitted. That being said, our first viral vector manufacturing suites will be available prior to the end of 2022, with others such as cell therapy suits coming throughout 2023," he said.
Though many competitors are advancing into the CGT market thanks to its great growth potential, the CEO said CBM can be distinguished among players in the sector.
"CBM is building this company based on the need for a differentiated CDMO in a number of dimensions. Our focus areas have not changed in our quest to outpace the competition and win. A few of the differentiating aspects of CBM include service that can meet and beat timelines," he said.
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