Celltrion has been sanctioned by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) for unfairly supporting affiliated companies owned by its chairman, Jung-jin Seo. The violations include waiving storage fees and providing trademark rights for free, constituting acts of unfair support and personal gain.

On December 3, the KFTC announced a fine of $306,000 against Celltrion for violating the Fair Trade Act. According to the investigation, from 2009 to 2019, Celltrion provided free storage services for pharmaceuticals to Celltrion Healthcare, an affiliate in which Seo held an 88% stake at the time. Additionally, the company allowed exclusive trademark rights it developed and registered to be used without charge during the same period.

In 2016, Celltrion extended similar benefits to another affiliate, Celltrion Skincure, where Seo owned a 69.7% stake, granting free use of its trademark rights.

The unfair practices stemmed from an August 2008 sales agreement between Celltrion and Celltrion Healthcare. The agreement granted Celltrion Healthcare exclusive domestic and international sales rights for Celltrion products, with terms requiring Celltrion Healthcare to manage storage at its own risk and pay storage fees if Celltrion stored the products. However, beginning in December 2009, Celltrion waived these fees, ultimately removing the provision in 2012. Between 2016 and 2019, Celltrion provided approximately $670,000 in free storage services to Celltrion Healthcare.

Celltrion also allowed its proprietary trademark rights to be used without charge, benefiting Celltrion Healthcare and Celltrion Skincure by $162,000 and $21,000, respectively.

A KFTC official commented, “We will continue to monitor and address unfair practices such as improper support and personal gain in industries directly affecting public welfare, including pharmaceuticals and healthcare.”