Focusing on Localization
An increasing number of South Korean pharmaceutical and biotech companies are setting up branches, joint ventures and subsidiaries abroad.
Particularly successful examples include Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s Beijing Hanmi Pharmaceutical established in 1996 and Ilyang Pharmaceutical’s Yangzhou Ilyang Pharmaceutical established in 1998. These corporations have helped their parent companies expand their business in China by means of localized marketing.
Boryung Pharmaceutical set up an investment company in Hong Kong in March this year and a local subsidiary in Beijing in the following month. The company is planning to supply its gelforce, whose sales add up to 50 billion won in China, to every region in China via the subsidiary. In addition, the subsidiary is expected to help accelerate the release of the Kanarb in China. Boryung Pharmaceutical and Gloria, a Chinese pharmaceutical company, signed a sales contract with each other in 2014 with regard to the new antihypertensive drug.
Last year, Daewon Pharmaceutical established a corporation in Vietnam to sell medical devices such as hearing aids. The company is going to expand the corporation so its scope of business covers the distribution of drugs as well as medical supplies in not only Vietnam but also Southeast Asia as a whole.
The Kolon Group, which developed the Invossa, launched Tissuegene in Maryland in 1999. The subsidiary has the right to sell the cell therapy product for the treatment of degenerative arthritis in regions other than Asia. Tissuegene is scheduled to go public in South Korea in November this year and the money raised by the IPO is planned to be invested in the third phase of the clinical trial for the Invossa in the United States. Last month, Tissuegene attracted an investment of US$750,000 from the state of Maryland for the development of the Invossa.
Macrogen, a gene analysis company, established a branch in Madrid, Spain last month. The company has organized global genome center networks in major global cities for localization purposes. At present, it has branches in the United States, Japan, the Netherlands, Australia and Singapore as well as Spain.
Dae Hwa Pharm took over S&V Technologies GmbH in Germany in June this year to export its Amalian filler to more countries. Bukwang Pharmaceutical is currently conducting clinical trials for its JM-010 for the treatment for Parkinson’s disease after having acquired Contera Pharma in Denmark three years ago.