The agreement is the largest in a series of deals that Gilead Sciences has penned with Korea’s Yuhan.
Gilead Sciences has struck a $139.8 million deal to source ingredients from Yuhan, expanding its long-standing relationship with the South Korean manufacturer.
The value of the agreement, which was reported by Korea Biomedical Review, amounts to almost 10% of Yuhan’s sales for last year. The contract started May 19 and is scheduled to run until the end of next year. Yuhan’s disclosure lacks details of which active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) it will supply to Gilead under the terms of the deal.
Gilead has a history of sourcing antiviral APIs from Korean manufacturers. In the 2010s, ST Pharm supplied APIs for Gilead’s hepatitis C drugs. Later, Yuhan landed a $45.3 million deal to supply API for Gilead’s HIV drugs in 2018. Gilead struck another deal with Yuhan for HIV APIs in 2024, agreeing to pay $80.9 million for the ingredients. The 2024 deal coincided with a period when U.S. companies were moving API production out of China in anticipation of the Biosecure Act.
Gilead’s latest deal with Yuhan is the second API supply agreement with a U.S. biopharma that the Korean manufacturer has disclosed this month. Earlier in May, Yuhan revealed a $38.1 million contract to supply BridgeBio Pharma with API for a cardiomyopathy treatment. BridgeBio sells the transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy therapy Attruby.
Yuhan’s compatriot ST Pharm has reported two deals worth more than $50 million this year. In January, the company disclosed a roughly one-year, $56.3 million agreement to supply APIs to the U.S. to support commercialization of an oligonucleotide treatment for severe hypertriglyceridemia. ST Pharm reported another oligonucleotide deal in March, this time a $59.9 million European pact.
The orders are supported by capacity expansions, Seoul Economic Daily reported. Yuhan completed the expansion of one plant in April and plans to expand another building at the same site, with construction set to start this year and a view toward commencing operations in the first half of 2028. ST Pharm completed construction of a second oligonucleotide building last year.
