“JW Group’s Honorary Chairman Lee Jong-ho Passes Away at 90: A Pioneer in Korea’s Pharmaceutical Industry”

Lee Jong-ho, honorary chairman of JW Group, passed away on the 30th. He is 90 years old.

According to the JW Group, while hospitalized at Shinchon Severance Hospital in Seoul, Honorary Chairman Lee’s condition deteriorated rapidly and he passed away while his family watched.

The deceased is the second son of Lee Ki-seok, the founder of Chosun Choongwa Pharmaceutical (predecessor of JW Pharmaceutical) in 1945.

After graduating from Seoul High School, Dongguk University’s Department of Law, and Korea University’s Graduate School of Business, he participated in company management in 1966.

In 1969, Chairman Lee led the development of ‘Rizinomycin’, the first synthetic antibiotic in Korea and the second in the world. Since then, it has entered into technical partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies in Europe and the US, such as Merck and Abbott, and expanded its business to focus on prescription drugs. After investing in the infusion business, which did not leave much profit, Chairman Lee exported ‘Winuff’, a comprehensive nutritional infusion, to Europe for the first time as an Asian pharmaceutical company in 2019.

Chairman Lee, who took office as president of Choongwae Pharmaceutical in 1975, always emphasized the importance of new drug development. In 1992, Korea’s first joint bio-venture C&C New Drug Research Institute was established with Japan’s Chui Pharmaceutical, and in 2000, a research center called JW Seriac was established in Seattle, USA.

The funeral will be held by the head of the JW Group company. His survivors include his wife, Imseon Hong, and three sons and one daughter (Kyungha Lee, Dongha, Jeongha, and Jinha). His mortuary was prepared at Shinchon Severance Hospital, and the burial was at 7 am on the 3rd.