South Korean firm to buy Bristol Myers Squibb manufacturing facility in DeWitt

DeWITT, N.Y. — Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMY) and LOTTE Corporation of Seoul, South Korea on Friday announced that LOTTE has agreed to purchase Bristol’s manufacturing facility in DeWitt along Thompson Road.

The site will serve as the LOTTE Center for North America Operations for LOTTE’s new biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business in the U.S., per the Friday announcement.

Terms of the acquisition agreement, including the sale price, weren’t disclosed by the companies.

Headquartered in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, Bristol Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company.

The companies anticipate completing the transaction by the second half of this year, “subject to receipt of regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other closing conditions,” Bristol Myers Squibb said. Upon closing, LOTTE will acquire the DeWitt site’s operations and assets, which include the property, plant and equipment, as well as the workforce “with technical capabilities and expertise.”

About 420 Bristol Myers Squibb employees work at the facility with the direct support of over 100 on-site contractors, a Bristol spokesperson tells CNYBJ in an email message.

Following the closing of the transaction, LOTTE will manufacture products for Bristol Myers Squibb from the DeWitt site under a newly established CDMO relationship. Over time, LOTTE is expected to use the facility to expand its CDMO offerings for the biopharma industry, Bristol Myers Squibb noted.

“The [DeWitt] site has been an important part of our company’s history and our manufacturing network for many decades, and we are confident that LOTTE will fully leverage the facility, its capabilities and its experienced workforce as it continues to play a vital role for patients around the world,” Karin Shanahan, executive VP, global product development and supply, at Bristol Myers Squibb, said. “We have taken a thoughtful approach to this decision and are confident this will best support the continued evolution of our manufacturing network and our mission to deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases.”

The DeWitt site will continue to operate as part of Bristol Myers Squibb’s manufacturing network until the closing of the transaction.

“We are pleased to add this state-of-the-art facility to our global pharma operations, which will enable us to rapidly scale and expand our biologics CDMO business in North America,” Hunki Lee, executive VP of LOTTE, said. “We look forward to welcoming the talented team in [DeWitt] to LOTTE, and we intend to make significant investments to further enhance the facility and its capabilities to support our strategic growth objectives moving forward.”

Bristol Myers Squibb describes the DeWitt site is as a “state-of-the-art” manufacturing facility with commercial-scale production capacity for biologics. The plant was originally established in 1943 to answer the U.S. government’s call for large scale production of penicillin, Bristol said.