At the ‘Bio International Convention (Bio USA )’ held in Boston, USA, from the 5th to the 8th of this month, Yuhan Corporation put Lee Young-mi , R&BD (Research Business Development) Director (Vice President) at the forefront. Vice President Lee, a former Hanmi Pharm, newly joined Yuhan Corporation on the 31st of last month, and went on a business trip to the United States at the same time as joining. Vice President Lee, who had attended Bio USA last year wearing a name tag as an executive director of Hanmi Pharm , started marketing a new allergy treatment candidate ( YH35324 ) as a global pharmaceutical company with Yuhan Corporation’s business card. In the industry, there was a saying that ‘Vice President Lee seemed to have met water’.
According to the pharmaceutical industry on the 13th, major research and development ( R&D ) personnel are leaving Hanmi Pharmaceutical recently. After Vice Chairman Lee Kwan-soon and President Kwon Se-chang stepped down, the breakaway seems to be accelerating. Looking at the company’s public announcement, only 13 executives at the executive director and director level have resigned in the past year. Of the 13 people who resigned, 5 had more than 5 years of continuous service. Vice President Lee, who was immediately recruited by Yuhan Corporation, joined Hanmi Pharm in 2013 and filled ’10 years’. It is evaluated that it gives the impression that the key person who led the research and development has fallen too all at once in a short period of time to call it a water change for new innovation.
Vice President Lee has distinguished himself in global sales while serving as a graduate student in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Seoul National University and a researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School. In the domestic bio industry, which was thirsty for overseas expansion, it was known as ‘the number one recruiter’. After he moved to Yuhan Corp토토사이트., some in the industry even said that Hanmi Pharm had stopped developing new drugs altogether.
Hanmi Pharm drew attention in 2015 when it signed a technology transfer contract with Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly, a large global pharmaceutical company, for hundreds of billions of won. However, the following year, the rights to olmutinib in 2016 and poseltinib in 2019 were returned, and the upward trend was sharply reduced.
Hanmi Pharm Vice President Son Ji-woong, who led the development of Olmutinib, moved to LG Chem Life Science Headquarters along with Vice President Kim Chang-sook, and vice president Lim Seong-ki, who worked hard on new drug development, passed away in 2020, and the company’s research and development drive was lost. Vice President Sohn, on the other hand, moved to LG Chem, was promoted to president again, and then took over Aveo Therapeutics, a US anticancer drug development bio company, and is on a winning streak.
Recently, there has been a bio venture company in which Hanmi Pharm graduates are in harmony. MustBio, established by CEO Kim Maeng-seop, who served as Hanmi Pharmaceutical Research Center Director and Beijing Hanmi Deputy General Manager, has all major researchers from Hanmi Pharmaceutical, including research center head Vice President Jeong Seong-yeop.
CEO Kim participated in the research and development of IMDs such as Amosartan and Poziotinib, which was exported to Spectrum in the US, and Vice President Jung is considered the main player in the development of Labscovery technology developed by Hanmi Pharmaceutical. Labscovery is a new drug platform that increases drug duration, and Hanmi Pharmaceutical is currently developing a treatment for diabetes and obesity with this technology. Hanmi Pharmaceutical, which has lost new drug research and development and business development , is concentrating on
biopharmaceutical consignment development and manufacturing ( CDMO ). Hanmi Pharmaceutical worked hard to promote the biopharmaceutical production capacity of its Pyeongtaek Plant 1 at Bio USA this year. In March, the news of Bio USA’s participation was announced on LinkedIn, and the CDMO team mobilized.
Hanmi Pharmaceutical set up a booth at the American Society of Clinical Oncology ( ASCO ) this year and promoted its clinical design in the US market. However, an industry insider said, “I understand that this Hanmi ASCO booth is to promote the ‘brand’, not to focus on products.” As such, it will be difficult to expect any results from Hanmi Pharm for the time being.”