[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] A key base for the global expansion of K-Bio has been established in Boston, a major U.S. bioindustry cluster.
On the 8th (local time), the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) announced on the 9th that they held an opening ceremony for the Connected & Development (C&D) Incubation Center at the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) in Boston. The C&D Incubation Center was named the "Korea Bio Innovation Center."
The Korea Bio Innovation Center will provide necessary support for Korean pharmaceutical and bio companies entering the U.S. market, including sector-specific consulting and expert information through local professional consultants (such as corporate establishment, technology transfer, approvals, clinical trials), as well as participation in seminars and academic forum connections.
Previously, KHIDI relocated its U.S. branch from Los Angeles (LA) to the Boston CIC, where many bio companies are concentrated, in March last year. Through this, they plan to support not only pharmaceutical and bio companies aiming to enter the U.S. but also the emerging domestic digital therapeutics (DTx), medical devices, cosmetics industries, and overall healthcare sector in various ways.
In particular, since January, the K-Blockbuster U.S. entry project has been underway, and in February, 10 companies were selected through a public contest to move into the center. The selected companies are ▲Riflex Science ▲Voronoi ▲Aribio ▲Yuhan USA ▲Welt ▲Ildong Pharmaceutical ▲Illimist Therapeutics ▲Generos ▲Hanmi Pharmaceutical ▲Huons USA (in alphabetical order).
KHIDI will support these companies with local settlement assistance such as rent and convenience facilities for up to three years, along with consulting support. Three consulting firms?BW Biomed, Cura Precision Biomedical, and W Medical Strategy Group?will conduct close mentoring programs. Customized consulting and advice will be provided in various fields such as legal counsel, clinical, approvals, and technology transactions according to the companies' needs. Consulting services will also be open for pre-application from companies wishing to participate, starting this month, beyond just the C&D Center resident companies.
The opening ceremony was attended by Lee Hyung-hoon, Director of the Ministry of Health and Welfare; Yoo Ki-jun, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Boston; Kim Jong-sung, President of the Korean American Bio Industry Council (KABIC); Won Hee-mok, President of the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association; and various Korean American experts. Resident companies such as Riflex Science, Aribio, Yuhan USA, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, and Huons USA introduced their major research and development (R&D) pipelines and presented their plans and aspirations for entering the U.S. market.
KHIDI President Kwon Soon-man said, “To globally promote the excellence of Korea’s pharmaceutical and bio industry, KHIDI will play a frontline role in supporting the global expansion of Korean pharmaceutical and bio companies.”
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