Chairman Lee Byung-geon: "Domestic Pharmaceutical Companies Must Quickly Explore New Promising Fields"

Chairman Byung-gun Lee of GI Innovation is giving a presentation at the 'GI BIO FORUM' held on the 23rd at SKV1 Tower in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do.

[Asia Economy Reporter Byun Seon-jin] “If Korea considers bio as a future growth engine, it must quickly explore new fields and build competitiveness.”

This was emphasized by Lee Byung-geon, Chairman of GI Innovation, at the ‘GI BIO FORUM’ held on the 23rd at SKV1 Tower in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do. “Pfizer in the U.S. spent 17.7 trillion won on research last year, accounting for 17.0% of its sales (104 trillion won),” he said, “while the combined annual research budget of domestic venture pharmaceutical companies is less than 4 trillion won. Simply following what global pharmaceutical companies do cannot be a winning game.” Chairman Lee identified regenerative medicine, digital health, ribonucleic acid (RNA), exosomes, and microbiomes as promising fields in the domestic pharmaceutical bio sector.

There was also a suggestion that the government should boldly ease the drug approval process if safety and efficacy are guaranteed for domestic pharmaceuticals to gain global competitiveness. Chairman Lee attributed Japan’s rapid growth in regenerative medicine to its conditional approval system, which grants approval after Phase 1 clinical trials confirming human safety and animal efficacy. According to the regenerative medicine safety law enacted in 2014, Japan significantly reduced the approval process for regenerative medicine but requires a re-examination process after seven years. Chairman Lee evaluated this as “a groundbreaking reduction of more than seven years until a drug is distributed.”

There was also a call for venture capital (VC) to invest in domestic pharmaceutical bio with patience for over 10 years. Chairman Lee emphasized, “VCs consider a period of 5 to 10 years when investing in domestic pharmaceutical bio,” adding, “Gilead Sciences, with a market capitalization of 144 trillion won, took 15 years to turn a profit since its establishment in 1987. A longer-term perspective is necessary.”

He also stated that domestic pharmaceutical bio, which mainly exports biotechnology, should also focus on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and direct sales. To enhance the competitiveness of pharmaceutical bio, Chairman Lee saw the need for ▲strengthening the expertise of chief executive officers (CEOs) ▲expansion into Asian markets ▲a culture that is not afraid of challenges and failures ▲activation of initial public offerings (IPO) and special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC).

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