Aside from mixed earnings at major South Korean pharma firms, recent updates across the local industry have included the ongoing leadership dispute at Hanmi Group, the approval and reimbursement of Yuhan’s lazertinib as a first-line NSCLC therapy and the US approval of GC Biopharma’s immuno-globulin product.

Despite some disappointments, the South Korean pharma industry showed mostly resilient R&D activity in 2023 amid robust efforts to secure technologies and assets in new modalities such as ADCs and TPD to better compete with global players. 

As Korean firms report quarterly earnings, Hanmi is stepping up the development of obesity drugs, Daewoong unveils plans to boost sales of in-house new drugs, GC Biopharma’s immunoglobulin undergoes the US approval process and Ildong has set up a new R&D-focused subsidiary.

Korea Health Industry Development Institute President Soon-Do Cha talks to Scrip how the government agency’s support strategy to the domestic biopharma industry may be changing in line with the industry’s increased globalization move and how he views the country’s policy stance should improve going forward to meet its goal of becoming a strong biohealth nation.