Six Firms Pledge Investment of 108 Bil. Won
Korean bio-health venture companies are establishing research centers and production facilities in Osong Bio Technopolis.
North Chungcheong Province and Cheongju City have recently signed an investment agreement with six companies including G2GBIO, Optolane and Bio Prism. The aggregate amount of investments pledged by these companies totaled 108 billion won. When executed, they will create a total of 223 jobs.
G2GBIO is an innovative bio company with advanced new drug technology for dementia treatment. Dementia remedies on the global market come in the form of oral tablets, patches, and melting tablets. They are inconvenient as patients have to take them once or twice a day. However, G2GBIO’s new medicine is an injection type and has significantly increased the duration of the effect of the medicine to over a month. It is currently undergoing clinical trials and is expected to enter the global market in 2019.
Optolane is a company that researches and develops molecular diagnostic devices, biosensors, and diagnostic agents. The company is working on molecular diagnostic devices that automatically carry out the whole diagnosis process from DNA extraction to molecular diagnosis, and therefore can be easily used in primary care hospitals (clinics and public health centers). It is planning to roll out the new devices within this year.
Bio Prism is a contact research organization (CRO) for cell and animal experiments, and is developing target cancer drugs and medical devices. It has the aspiration to change the landscape of domestic endoscopes where imported products account for 96%. It has taken over the patented fluorescent molecular image endoscopic illumination device technology from the Advanced Medical Device Development Support Center of the Osong Medical Innovation Foundation.
Jungkos, a cosmetics research and production company, has set up a skin science research institute to develop differentiated products. Currently, it is developing 1,477 products, including toners and sunscreens that have been approved for functional use.
Osbio plans to build a platform for production and distribution of organic medical foods and health-related functional foods. It is studying the positive effects of water celery extracts on cancer and chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.
Regencare researches and develops wound dressings and cosmetics for skin diseases. It is expecting to lead the global antimicrobial coating market for chronic disease treatment once it commercializes the wound dressing technology that heals wound and have antimicrobial and skin regeneration effects.
Earlier on July 20, Anygen, the only Korean producer of medical peptide (human hormone biomaterials involved in the regulation of biological signal transmission and function control), held a ceremony to commemorate the completion of Anygen Peptide Pharm Osong at the Osong Biotechnology Complex and began full-fledged production.
Anygen is a company established in 2000 as an in-house venture by Kim Jae-il, a professor of the biotechnology department of the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST). Since then, it has been committed to the manufacture of peptide-based raw material medicine and development of new drugs. It gained licenses for six items and was successfully listed in on the KOSDAQ in December 2016.
Anygen Peptide Pharm Osong plans to recruit 20 researchers and 30 production workers from local residents. Peptides to be produced at the Osong plant will be supplied to global pharmaceutical companies through an exclusive sales contract with Interchem of the US, the world's leading seller of raw material medicine.
An official of the North Chungcheong provincial government said, "We will continue to attract bio companies to further strengthen the status of the province as the center of the bio industry."