SK Plasma enters Brazil's blood plasma derivatives market

SK Plasma, a blood plasma-derivative manufacturer, is going to enter the Brazilian market, the largest in South America, for the first time.

The company announced Sunday that it was selected as a supplier of “IVIG-SN,” an immunoglobulin, for 2020 in a bidding organized by the health authorities of Brazil. The order is worth about 23.9 billion won (approx. 20 million U.S. dollars), the largest export volume recorded by the company since it was spun off from SK Chemicals in 2015.

SK Plasma won the competition against eight global blood product providers including CSL from Australia and Octapharma from Switzerland, which are the market’s largest and fourth largest respectively. The company’s “IVIG-SN” can help with congenital immunodeficiency, immune thrombocytopenia and other conditions.

SK Plasma is expecting that its latest win will speed up its entry into the one-trillion South American plasma-derived product market.

According to MRB, a market research firm, the immunoglobulin market of South America was worth 350 billion won as of 2016 with Brazil taking up the largest share at 35 percent.


Hyoun-Soo Kim kimhs@donga.com