Domestic flights are difficult for global biotech companies
We have no choice but to sell some of the new drug substances.
In China, 16 clinical trials are underway at once.
Yongju Kim, CEO of LegoChemBio. Photo provided by LegoChemBio
“Honestly, I don’t feel very good. If you create a new drug venture, your goal is to develop the new drug to the end, but in the Korean environment, you have no choice but to choose to export technology to survive.”
Kim Yong-ju (pictured), CEO of LegoChemBio (141080) Science, gave this answer when asked about his thoughts on achieving the largest technology export performance in the history of the domestic pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry in a phone call with the Seoul Economic Daily on the 27th. LegoChemBio announced the day before that it had signed a technology transfer agreement for antibody drug conjugate (ADC) candidate materials worth 2.2 trillion won with Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (J&J). Recently, it was evaluated that the company has reaffirmed its unrivaled position in ADC technology, which is the biggest concern in the global pharmaceutical industry.
The number of LegoChemBio technology exports exceeds 10, including this contract. Several contracts worth more than 1 trillion won were signed. However, CEO Kim revealed his deep regrets every time he exported technology. He said, “It takes much more money to develop an ADC than other new drugs,” and “We tried to conduct clinical trials in the United States ourselves, but it is frustrating that we have no choice but to export the technology for survival due to the enormous cost.”
CEO Kim points out that ‘global biotech’ cannot easily emerge in this domestic investment environment. He said, “No matter what the result, you have to get to the end of the new drug development stage to know whether or not a global biotech company can be developed, but that is not easy in Korea.” “We have no choice but to follow a survival strategy of selling some and developing some ourselves,” he said.
Representative Kim also compared the reality of Korea and China, which has recently emerged as an ADC powerhouse. Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), a global pharmaceutical company, recently signed a contract worth up to $8.4 billion with Chinese bio company Sichuan Biokin and secured an ADC pipeline. CEO Kim said, “Rather than the size of the contract, it is important that Chinese companies are pushing ADC to the extent of conducting 16 clinical trials at once,” adding, “The reason China overtook the United States and took first place in ADC pipeline is because it mobilized enormous financial power.” I saw that.
CEO Kim is a person who pioneered the ADC field, which no one in Korea had ever ventured into. CEO Kim is a former ‘LG Man’ who has been involved in new drug development for 23 years since joining LG Chem in 1983, and decided to start his own business after leaving the company at the end of 2005. In 2006, he founded LegoChem with six team leaders from LG Chem to develop antibiotics, anticoagulants, and anticancer drugs, and began developing ADC linker technology using the technology he had accumulated in the antibiotic field. The company has been consistently producing technology exports since 2015, but began to receive attention in earnest after signing a technology export contract worth 1.605 trillion won with Amgen of the U.S. last year.
CEO Kim’s plan is to compete with platform technology in the fiercer ADC development competition. He said, “This contract with Janssen is meaningful in that it has been recognized for its high validation among many competitors. Since it has been proven that our platform technology has clinical advantages, we will expand our pipeline as much as possible and sell some of it.” “Some will focus on a two-track strategy of conducting follow-up clinical trials,” he said.
2023-12-27 07:17:07
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