Thousand Oaks Biopharmaceuticals Inked a Joint Venture Agreement with Korea’s WSG Group

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. & SHANGHAI & BUSAN, South Korea–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#ASMEBPEcertification–January 2021, Thousand Oaks Biopharmaceuticals Group (“Thousand Oaks”) announced that it had signed a Joint Venture agreement with WSG Group in Busan, Korea, to establish a bioprocess solution joint venture (including cell culture media, single-use technology, and related technologies and products) in early 2021. The Joint Venture will speed up and boost development of the Korean Biopharmaceutical industry by supplying serum-free cell culture media at commercial scale. This cooperation also marks another milestone for JSBiosciences (a fully owned subsidiary of Thousand Oaks) the leading cell culture media supplier to enter the international market.

With a history of 22 years, WSG is the world’s leading manufacturer and supplier of meticulously precision-engineered flow components for ultra-high-purity (UHP) applications, servicing industries such as semiconductors, LCD/OLED displays, microelectronics, biotechnology, life sciences and pharmaceuticals. It has acquired ASME BPE certification, an essential certification for biopharmaceuticals industries, through heavily invested and developed in localization of MPE (materials, parts, and equipment), and successfully supplying to Samsung Biologics.

According to the agreement, the joint venture will be committed to becoming one of the premier providers of bioprocess solutions to the biopharmaceutical industry by developing the cell culture media business in Korea, and formulating a production strategy in line with Korea’s localization of biopharmaceutical MPE (materials, parts, equipment). It plans to build a culture media production center with a significant capacity by 2021, making it Korea’s first local company for cell culture media with a batch capacity in the thousands of kilograms.

Dr. Shun Luo, Chairman and President of Thousand Oaks, said, “We are looking forward to the prospects of the cooperation with WSG. There are many world-leading biopharmaceutical companies in Korea. The cell culture media joint venture is an integral part of our global strategy and is also in line with the MPE localization strategy of Korea’s biopharmaceutical industry. It will speed up our progress in the international biopharmaceutical market and support our global partners to achieve the accessibility and affordability of biologics for humanity!”

Victor Kang, President of WSG, said, “We are very pleased to establish a joint venture with Thousand Oaks. As our strategic partner, Thousand Oaks owns China’s leading cell culture media brand JSBiosciences which holds competitive core technologies and production process in culture media. This cooperation will rapidly enhance WSG’s strength in the field of biopharmaceutical services, and we will leverage the strengths of both sides to achieve mutual benefits.”

Dr. Yu Chen, Vice President of Commercial Operations Asia-Pacific of Thousand Oaks, said, “Before establishing a partnership with WSG, we extensively and thoroughly studied the Korean biopharmaceutical and biotechnology market. It was after rounds of discussion and planning by both parties that we finally reached the agreement. We believe this Korea-based cell culture media joint venture will vigorously boost development of the Korean biopharmaceutical industry and extend our global footprints in the cell culture media market.”

Contacts

Shun Luo

luoshun@jianshunbio.com
Yu Chen

yu.chen@tobiopharm.com