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| Jeff Stute, global head of healthcare investment banking at J.P. Morgan, delivers a speech at J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January, 2017. / Courtesy of J.P. Morgan |
By Park Hyong-ki
Local biopharmaceutical companies are mobilizing their executive and research teams to take part in the biggest healthcare conference hosted by J.P. Morgan in San Francisco, California next week.
They will be introducing their research and development (R&D) projects in the pipeline this year to attract global investors to further the development and commercialization of new medicines for overseas markets.
Green Cross, the listed flu vaccine giant, said it will be attending the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference again this week, following in January last year.
But rather than presenting its case in a session, its team will mostly be meeting potential investors and partners on the sidelines for networking.
The company has numerous ongoing projects to develop drugs for the treatment of diseases related to blood and immune system enhancement that need more time and capital to make them available not only locally but also worldwide.
Green Cross has recently abbreviated its corporate name to GC as it seeks to start afresh with a focus on foraying into global markets.
"Besides Samsung BioLogics and Celltrion, local companies' operations and sales had mostly been domestically focused," a GC spokesman said.
"The industry is just starting to look overseas for more opportunities."
GC is planning to manufacture biotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of diseases related to the immune and circulatory systems in Canada beginning in 2020, it noted.
GC Holdings has a 50 percent stake in GC, whose other key shareholders include the National Pension Service and Matthews International Capital Management, a U.S. investment fund.
Like GC, an increasing number of companies here are adopting an open innovation model where they can develop drugs using external assistance from scientists and entrepreneurs beyond borders.
Such a model has been widely used by global giants such as Merck and Pfizer.
In Korea, the model is helping local companies to focus more on R&D of original consumer drugs, while moving away from producing generic ones, Hanmi Pharmaceutical said in its audit report.
The value of the local pharmaceutical market stood at around 21.7 trillion won last year, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
However, about 80 percent of it came from prescription drugs from doctors and pharmacists.
This structure has only enabled drug companies to market their products to hospitals, and less directly to consumers.
The R&D of new drugs through the model is helping to reshape this aging business landscape.
Hanmi also has numerous projects to develop biotherapeutic drugs for the treatment of obesity and diabetes, some of which could be presented to investors at the conference.
Although Hanmi would not disclose details, it said meetings with potential investors will likely follow its formal presentation of its plan for this year.
Hanmi Chairman and founder Lim Sung-ki has a 34.23 percent in Hanmi Science, which holds a majority stake in Hanmi Pharmaceutical.
It has formed partnerships with Sanofi and Janssen.
The conference's keynote speakers will include Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Jamie Dimon, chairman & CEO of JPMorgan Chase.
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