Continuing Challenges
Hanmi Pharmaceutical said that Boehringer Ingelheim’s decision to return the exclusive license of Olmutinib (HM61713), a lung cancer treatment candidate, recently became a big issue, but this is one of our 30 new medicines under development. In particular, the value of Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s new drug pipeline is still the same as the South Korean drug company has entered into an exclusive license agreement with Genentech, a subsidiary of the Roche Group, for the development and commercialization of a novel cancer drug right before Boehringer Ingelheim returning the license right of Olmutinib, according to industry sources.
Previously, Hanmi Pharmaceutical also signed an exclusive license agreement with Eli Lilly Co. to develop and commercialize Hanmi's oral Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor (HM71224) for the treatment of autoimmune and other diseases, and it started its Phase II global clinical studies. The company is currently carrying out Phase III clinical trials of Eflapegrastim (HM10460A), a long-duration neutropenia treatment, in cooperation with Spectrum Pharmaceuticals as well. Spectrum Pharmaceuticals is also conducting clinical trials of Hanmi’s Poziotinib, a new drug to treat cancers. Hanmi Pharmaceutical, the nation’s largest pharmaceutical firm in terms of research and development (R&D) investment, was listed on KOSPI in 2013 and surpassed the cumulative investments of 100 billion won (US$85.25 million) for the first time in the domestic industry.
In January 2015, Hanmi Pharmaceutical entered into the US$20 million (23.46 billion won) investment contract with Allegro Ophthalmics, a U.S.-based venture firm specializing in ophthalmology, and secured the development and license rights of Allegro’s Luminate, a novel drug to treat retina diseases, in the Korean and Chinese market. The company also signed an agreement on joint research and development of bio new medicines with Repugen, a biotechnology venture firm, in August last year.
In July this year, Hanmi Pharmaceutical founded Hanmi Ventures to develop candidate substances of promising new drugs at an early stage and make strategic investments in new pharmaceutical and bio ventures and others. In addition, Hanmi Science and Hanmi Pharmaceutical invest in candidate substances at a commercialization stage and small and mid-size companies.
With the development of new drugs, Hanmi Pharmaceutical is aggressively expanding its business areas in a bid to jump into a global healthcare firm. Hanmi Science, the holding company of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group, recently acquired local medication management automation company JVM Co. under a stock swap agreement. JVM plans to jump into a global leading automated pharmaceutical management company based on Hanmi Group’s global competence and specialized business power.