Pharmaceutical Exports to the US Doubled in 4 Years... Bio Industry Fueled Growth

Driven by Biosimilars and Biobetters

The export scale of South Korean pharmaceutical and bio companies to the United States has more than doubled in the past four years. This indicates that the proportion of the U.S. in our pharmaceutical and bio industry has expanded accordingly, while the pharmaceutical tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump also have an increased potential to impact the entire industry.

According to the "U.S. Pharmaceutical Export and Import Status" report by the Korea Bio Association's Bio Economy Research Center, citing United Nations (UN) trade statistics data on the 19th, the scale of pharmaceuticals exported from South Korea to the U.S. was $3.97 billion (approximately 5.7267 trillion KRW) as of last year. Compared to 2020 ($1.9 billion · approximately 2.7407 trillion KRW), this represents about a 100% increase.

This trend is driven by biosimilars (biopharmaceutical generics) and biobetters (improved new drugs). The export scale of these items was $3.07809 billion (approximately 4.4401 trillion KRW) last year, accounting for 77.5% of the total.

Export and import statistics separating biosimilars and biobetters have been compiled since 2022. In that year, the export volume of biosimilars and biobetters was $2.38028 billion (approximately 3.4335 trillion KRW), which has increased by 29.3% over the past two years. Expanding the scope to include products like botulinum toxin, biopharmaceuticals account for 94.2% of U.S.-bound pharmaceutical exports among all pharmaceuticals.

The basic stance of the Trump administration is to reduce drug prices and stabilize supply chains. Considering this policy direction, the partnership between the U.S. and South Korea is likely to strengthen further in principle. This is because local demand for biosimilars, which are cheaper than high-priced original biopharmaceuticals, and contract manufacturing volumes of biopharmaceuticals required by pharmaceutical companies may increase in the future.

However, there is an analysis that President Trump's pharmaceutical tariff plan conflicts with this environment. Due to the nature of pharmaceuticals, for which substitutes are difficult to find, tariff barriers could have adverse effects on the domestic market.

An industry insider said, "The bio industry often imports inexpensive active pharmaceutical ingredients (DS) and then only performs packaging locally in the U.S. to convert them into finished pharmaceutical products (DP), which provides many opportunities to avoid tariffs," adding, "While the details of the pharmaceutical tariffs need to be reviewed, the impact is expected to be limited compared to other industries."

Last year, the U.S. exported pharmaceuticals worth $94.3 billion (approximately 136 trillion KRW) and imported $212.6 billion (approximately 306 trillion KRW), resulting in a trade deficit of $118 billion (approximately 170 trillion KRW). This deficit increased from $87.5 billion the previous year. The U.S. is the largest importer of pharmaceuticals worldwide and the second-largest exporter of pharmaceuticals globally.

The major countries from which the U.S. imported pharmaceuticals (as of last year) were Ireland ($50.32 billion), Switzerland ($19 billion), Germany ($17.21 billion), Singapore ($15.26 billion), and India ($12.72 billion), followed by Belgium, Italy, China, Japan, and the United Kingdom, with most imports coming from Europe.

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