"For big pharmaceutical companies facing patent expirations on blockbuster drugs — those with annual sales above $1 billion — Korean firms with innovative technology but limited experience and funding in drug development are attractive partners. Interest in Korean biotech is growing not only among big pharma but also among overseas investors, so we are also planning an event to introduce Korean biotech firms to global venture capital funds."
Kim Yong-woo, head of the pharmaceutical and bio division at the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, said in an interview with The Seoul Economic Daily on the 8th that Korean companies are developing about 3,000 drug candidates, ranking third globally behind the United States with about 11,000 and China with about 6,000. The division has run a range of open innovation programs to expand contact between global drugmakers and Korean biotech firms. Starting with Amgen in 2021, Novo Nordisk, Merck & Co. and AstraZeneca have joined the institute in searching for promising Korean biotech companies.
Intocell (287840.KQ) is a leading example of those efforts paying off. The company won a pitching day hosted by the institute and Amgen in 2023, grew with mentoring from Amgen and completed a technology-based special listing in May last year. Abion, which won the K-Bio Expressway program hosted by the institute and AstraZeneca in 2024, signed a licensing deal with a global company worth up to 1.8 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in June last year. As such results drew wider interest from global drugmakers, the institute launched K Bio-Pharma Next Bridge, a program that turns open innovation with Korean biotech firms into a platform.
"It is not easy for global drugmakers interested in Korea's biotech ecosystem to find trustworthy local companies on their own, but when the institute connects them with companies whose research and development it has already supported, cooperation moves much faster," Kim said. "Global drugmakers look for Korean companies with specific technologies that fit their future strategies, and because each company wants something different, our role is to help them find the Korean firms that match that demand."
The institute is holding Global Open Innovation Week from the 9th to the 11th at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul, where Korean biotech firms and big pharma gather for intensive partnering talks. When the institute first held the event, only four leading companies including global drugmakers took part; this year the number has risen to 23. Last year, 102 Korean companies held a total of 162 partnering meetings, and this year 698 partnering applications were submitted in advance.
Notably, Amgen Ventures and Novo Holdings, which handle investment for their parent companies, are attending this year's event to present their global investment strategies — an indication that big pharma is considering strategic investment in Korean companies, not just licensing deals. "Global drugmakers increasingly prefer to use corporate venture capital to make strategic investments in partners that fit market trends," Kim said. "The investment arm of AstraZeneca's headquarters also took part in Project Nova, an open innovation program we ran with AstraZeneca Korea this year." He added that the institute is considering programs to support actual investment, such as an event inviting overseas venture capital funds to introduce Korean companies, as global investment capital as well as global drugmakers show growing interest in Korea's biotech industry.
