Monday, December 28, 2015
U.S. pharmaceutical company Janssen is talking with at least one Korean company to strike a deal centered on the use of an innovative drug-making technology developed here.
It is uncertain how far the talks have progressed, but the news disclosed by Janssen's Korea chief reflects increasing recognition of the technological prowess of Korean drug companies, which for many years were regarded merely as manufacturers of overseas pharmaceuticals, with no ability to develop their own.
In November, Janssen signed an $810 million deal with Korea's Hanmi Pharmaceutical, under which Janssen was given the exclusive right to use Hanmi's cutting-edge technologies in order to develop and commercialize advanced drugs for the treatment of diabetes and obesity.
"We are talking with a Korean (pharmaceutical) company to arrange a deal," Janssen Korea managing director Kim Oak-yeon told The Korea Times. "I cannot share detailed information. What I can tell for now is that things are going smoothly."
She said the company's U.S. headquarters were directly involved in the talks, and that Korean companies were found to be competitive in regenerative medicine technologies.
"In Korea, there are many technologies that multinational drug makers are interested in," she said. "In particular, I don't think Korea falls behind other countries in basic sciences. One shortcoming is that the business climate facing Korean companies is not so good. They find it difficult to raise funds to commercialize their technologies."
She said that forging a partnership with a multinational drug company ? such as that with Hanmi ? would give Korean companies an easy way to overcome such difficulties.
She said that Samsung's entry into the pharmaceutical industry would facilitate this change, especially in developing biological drugs. Samsung BioLogics, a drug-making unit of the nation's largest conglomerate, broke ground on Dec. 21 to build its third biopharmaceutical plant in Songdo, west of Seoul, which will become operational in the fourth quarter of 2018, raising combined production capacity to 360,000 liters.
Kim took the helm of Janssen Korea in August 2012. She is also chairwoman of the Korean Research-based Pharma Industry Association (KRPIA), representing 36 foreign drug companies here.
As KRPIA chief, Kim urged the Korean government to pay more attention to treating tuberculosis and psychological diseases, and ease regulations so that patients suffering from such diseases could have better access to advanced medicine.
"They (tuberculosis and psychological diseases) are considered one of major causes of death in Korea, but the government's attention to them is not sufficient," she said, citing Economist Intelligence Unit (EUI)data released early this year.
"Major drugs that are being used to treat local patients suffering from tuberculosis or psychological diseases were developed nearly 30-40 years ago," she said. "There are a lot of much more powerful advanced new drugs that are much more effective.
"However, outdated medical policies and a lack of relevant budget have made it difficult for patients to get access to these high-performing drugs."
Kim said Janssen was working to launch several drugs in Korea next year, including ones for mental illness, blood cancer and AIDS.
On a global scale, the company will deepen its partnerships with Google, IBM and other information technology companies to speed technological convergence and improve disease prevention, diagnosis and health maintenance.
koreatimes.co.kr
