Lotte Group, a South Korean business empire best known for shopping malls, food, and chemicals, is throwing its weight behind a new frontier: biologic drugs. After laying the heavy infrastructure groundwork for a cross-border manufacturing network, the conglomerate is now shifting into high gear, aggressively hunting for global clients to prove its expensive biotech bet can pay off.
Having spent the past few years assembling a contract drug manufacturing footprint—spanning an operational facility in Syracuse, New York, and a newly completed large-scale production campus near Seoul—Lotte is transitioning from construction to commercialization. To fill that newly minted capacity, Lotte Biologics is embarking on a pivotal global roadshow this October, targeting major biopharmaceutical gatherings in Milan, Yokohama, and San Diego.
The business equation is straightforward: Multimillion-dollar factories are only valuable if pharmaceutical companies entrust them with their medicines. Lotte must convince global drugmakers that, despite being a newer entrant to the contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) sector, it can reliably handle commercial production alongside entrenched competitors.
The sales blitz kicks off at CPHI Milan (Oct. 6-8), one of the industry’s largest commercial events. Lotte plans to market its dual-country manufacturing capabilities, emphasizing the large-scale commercial capacity now available at its Songdo Bio Campus in South Korea. The Milan event will serve as a critical platform for private meetings aimed at converting physical plant capacity into signed production contracts.
From there, the company heads to Bio Japan in Yokohama (Oct. 7-9) with a technology-focused pitch. Lotte aims to demonstrate how its manufacturing control systems, digital twin technology, and computational fluid dynamics can drive consistency and efficiency in biologics production.
The final stop brings the campaign back to the United States. At World ADC San Diego (Oct. 12-15), Lotte will showcase its proprietary platform for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs)—a highly specialized and closely watched class of targeted cancer medicines—to attract niche, high-value manufacturing work from drug developers.
The global push arrives just as Lotte begins to show early commercial momentum, having announced four new contract awards since the start of 2026. With major construction at its Korean campus complete, the October tour through Europe, Japan, and the U.S. represents the commercial realization of Lotte’s broader industrial ambition.
Lotte has successfully built the engine for a global drugmaking business. Now, it has to sell it.
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