Im Seong-gi Foundation Announces Annual 400 Million KRW Rare Disease Research Support Program Competition

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] The Im Seong-gi Foundation (Chairman Lee Gwan-sun), established to inherit the philosophy and legacy of the late Im Seong-gi, founder of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group, regarding new drug development, announced on the 27th that it will start a research support project in the field of rare and intractable diseases.

This research support project will be conducted with a budget of approximately 400 million KRW in its first year. The Im Seong-gi Foundation will support the entire cycle from elucidating the pathophysiology of rare diseases to the clinical stages of drug development.

The foundation designated the research application field as "Basic and clinical research on ultra-rare diseases caused by pediatric chromosomal abnormalities." The foundation explained, "Considering the very high unmet medical needs and the necessity of research in this field, but the extremely small number of patients resulting in limited active research for drug development, we designated this field from a public interest perspective." In fact, the ultra-rare disease field designated by the foundation has fewer than 100 patients annually in Korea, with very low prevalence and no separate disease codes, causing suffering for patients and their families.

The application period is from May 2 to July 31. Eligibility includes Korean nationals based in Korea who are ▲principal investigators (PIs) conducting basic and clinical research in medicine, pharmacy, or life sciences ▲full-time faculty members at domestic universities ▲researchers at university-affiliated research institutes and national, public, or government-funded research institutions ▲clinical professors at university hospitals and tertiary general hospitals.

Applicants wishing to apply should submit one application form and one research proposal (within 15 pages, research period 3 to 5 years) based on the form uploaded on the Im Seong-gi Foundation website to the foundation’s secretariat via email. The foundation’s review committee will select support recipients through evaluation by October, followed by final approval from the foundation’s board of directors. The support amount is up to 200 million KRW per project annually and will continue for the 3 to 5 year research period.

Lee Gwan-sun, chairman of the Im Seong-gi Foundation, said, "We hope this support project will give dreams and hope to rare disease patients suffering from the lack of treatments," adding, "This will not only inherit Chairman Im’s lifelong earnest wish for new drug development but also realize Hanmi’s management philosophy of ‘Respect for Humanity’ and ‘Value Creation,’ which Chairman Im personally selected."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.