Hanmi Pharmaceutical (128940.KS) and SK Biopharmaceuticals (326030.KS) have been selected as "Innovation Leaders" representing pharmaceutical and biotech companies in emerging markets.
Researchers assessed that companies in Korea and China have secured competitiveness capable of threatening global pharmaceutical firms in the United States and Europe within the next several years.
According to the Bio Economy Research Center at the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization, the international journal Nature Reviews Drug Discovery published a paper the previous day analyzing the research and development (R&D) competitiveness of pharmaceutical and biotech companies in Asia, Latin America, and the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) region.
The researchers analyzed R&D investment, clinical pipeline composition, and revenue over the 15 years from 2010 to 2025 for 45 emerging-market pharmaceutical and biotech companies with revenue of more than $500 million as of 2025. Based on this, they classified the companies into three groups: Innovation Leaders, Emerging Innovators, and generic companies.
The analysis included nine companies in the Innovation Leaders group, comprising Korea's Hanmi Pharmaceutical and SK Biopharmaceuticals along with China's BeOne, CSPC, Hengrui, Henlius, Innovent, Junshi, and Sinobio.
The Emerging Innovators group included Yuhan (000100.KS), Samsung Biologics, GC Biopharma, and Daewoong Pharmaceutical, along with India's Biocon, Glenmark, and Dr. Reddy's, China's Kelun and Fosun, and Hungary's Gedeon Richter.
The paper cited high R&D investment and a strategy of focusing on core therapeutic areas as the basis for the competitiveness of Korean companies.
Hanmi Pharmaceutical invested about 17% of its revenue in R&D over the past 10 years, focusing on metabolic diseases and rare diseases. Yuhan also expanded its share of R&D investment from less than 5% in 2010-2015 to about 12% in 2020-2025, strengthening its oncology-focused innovation pipeline. SK Biopharmaceuticals joined the ranks of Innovation Leaders on the strength of its central nervous system (CNS) drug development capabilities.
By contrast, while Chinese and Korean companies sustained high levels of R&D investment, Indian companies remained at moderate investment levels, and companies in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Latin America mostly maintained generic-focused business structures, the analysis found.
The researchers assessed that for generic-focused companies to transition into innovative new drug companies, securing expertise in specific therapeutic areas and differentiated technology platforms is essential.
Ajay Gautam, a co-author of the paper, forecast that "innovation leaders in Asia, particularly China and Korea, have chosen innovation-driven strategies and are prepared to threaten their global competitors in the United States and Europe within the next several years," adding that "Indian companies also have the potential to grow into next-generation players if they expand their innovation assets."
