Two SK Group affiliates benefit from COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing activities and US sales of novel drugs, while other factors such as a recovery in prescription sales, new launches and falling milestone payments affected results at other traditional South Korean pharma firms in the second quarter.

The family-owned German pharma dates back to 1885 and tries to keep up with its publicly traded peers by not mimicking everything they do, but with a “value by innovation” focus.

A recent event in South Korea heard one prominent investor advise South Korean pharma firms to sharply increase their new drug R&D and seek direct entry into global markets, rather than pursuing licensing deals for growth

Through its latest government-linked project, Korean pharma consortium Kimco aims to speed up industry collaboration and step up technology competitiveness to move into rapidly growing pharmerging markets.