HanAll and Daewoong remain upbeat on dry eye candidate HL036 and are gearing up for a second Phase III US study despite the first missing its primary endpoint in just-released top-line results.

Various government support schemes seem to have led to recent successful new drug development activities and licensing deals by South Korean pharma and biotech firms. The state-run Korea Drug Development Fund is seen as having played a key role in this effort, providing assistance to 153 R&D programs in the country so far to speed up development of novel and innovative global medicines.

Taking into consideration global and domestic trends, South Korean pharmas are increasingly finding their own strategies to seek open innovation and collaborations to develop novel new drugs. Two leading firms from the country shared their know-how and showcased successful open innovation cases during a recent gathering organized by a national industry association.

Immunovant is Roivant's 10th drug development-focused firm, progressing RVT-1401, an antibody targeting neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) in immunoglobulin-mediated autoimmune diseases. Roivant showcased the budding pipeline of its growing family of companies, which now has 12 "vants."