Bio Association Supports Partnering Between Roche and Domestic Biotech Companies

The Korea Bio Association announced on the 10th that it held the ‘Korea Bio Association & Roche Partnering Day’ event on the 9th at the Korea Roche headquarters to explore partnership opportunities with domestic innovative biotech companies together with the global healthcare company Roche.

[Photo by Korea Bio Association]

This event was planned as part of the ‘Global Mingle’ project operated by the Bio Association to support the establishment of overseas cooperation networks for domestic pharmaceutical and bio companies. Roche’s Asia Pharmaceutical Partnering Team, which is focusing on discovering various external innovation opportunities within the Asian region, participated to seek new partnership opportunities with Korean biotech companies and contribute to the development of the domestic bio industry.

Roche, together with the Bio Association, publicly recruited outstanding biotech companies in eight innovative scientific fields including oncology, immunology, neuroscience, ophthalmology, rare diseases, infectious diseases, research technology, and digital health (precision medicine) last month. About 10% of the applicant companies were selected through the screening by Roche’s Asia Partnering Group to conduct one-on-one meetings to explore collaboration plans with Roche Group’s global research and development and partnering network.

Juri Hwang, Head of Exchange and Cooperation Division at the Bio Association, said, “This partnering with Roche was well aligned with the development and clinical stages of Korean bio companies,” adding, “While it has generally been thought that cooperation with global pharmaceutical companies begins after securing a certain amount of data, Roche’s open innovation, which starts collaboration even with startups holding early-stage pipelines, is believed to have a positive impact on the new drug development ecosystem.”

Harm-Jan Borgeld, Head of Roche Asia Partnering Group, said, “It was very interesting to learn more about the diverse innovative technologies and capabilities of Korean companies working in Roche’s research and development (R&D) areas of interest,” and added, “Since more than half of Roche’s R&D pipeline comes from partnerships with external entities, we will continue to strive to find partnerships that can accelerate innovation for patients.” Nic Horridge, CEO of Korea Roche, also said, “Korea is a key R&D country attracting 40% of the global clinical trials conducted by Roche Group, making it a major market where Roche Group can find various innovation opportunities,” and added, “We will continue to support various global departments within the global Roche Group to collaborate with Korean biotech companies, seek opportunities for mutual growth, and create better innovations for patients.”

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