Pharmaceutical Open Innovation 'Infinite Challenge'

Expansion of Key Pharmaceutical Partners
Beyond New Drugs to Digital Therapeutics and Healthcare
Exploring New Areas Through Collaboration

☞Open innovation = Translated into Korean as ‘개방형 혁신 전략’ (open innovation strategy). It is a concept proposed in 2003 by Henry Chesbrough, a renowned innovation scholar and professor at UC Berkeley, which means sourcing technologies and ideas from outside the company while simultaneously sharing internal resources externally to create new products or services. The core is the mutual sharing of intellectual property such as technologies and patents held by each company.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] The scope of ‘open innovation’ among major domestic pharmaceutical companies is expanding. While it has focused on discovering new drug candidates, recently the collaboration targets have expanded to new platforms such as exosomes and stem cells, as well as new areas like digital therapeutics (DTx) and digital healthcare.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical Signs Agreements with 8 Bio Ventures in the First Half of the Year

Among domestic pharmaceutical companies, Daewoong Pharmaceutical is the most active in open innovation. In the first half of this year alone, Daewoong Pharmaceutical signed research and development (R&D) agreements with eight bio ventures and research institutes. Including its holding company Daewoong and subsidiary Apicell Therapeutics, the total rises to 12. The research fields cover various areas such as stem cell therapeutics, osteoporosis treatments, and immune cell therapies. Recently, it signed a contract with Yonsei University’s Hearing Rehabilitation Research Institute for a stem cell contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) to develop treatments for hearing loss. Joint research on drug administration routes applied to the human body is also actively underway. It signed a joint R&D contract with the drug delivery platform bio venture Sky Therapeutics for transdermal absorption formulation therapeutics and is focusing on developing next-generation drug delivery system (DDS) ‘microneedle’ technology that attaches microneedles to the skin.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical Headquarters Building.

It has also expanded its business beyond pharmaceuticals into the digital healthcare sector. In May, it was selected as an operator of the technology startup investment program ‘TIPS’ hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and through the first ‘InnoBear Startup School’ contest, it selected four startups to support their R&D. Notably, the startups selected through the contest specialize in different fields: microbiome (Biomeights), DTx (NewDive), AI-based medical devices (SynergyAI), and digital healthcare platforms for prevention, management, and treatment of geriatric diseases (MediIOT), which is expected to create synergy effects. A Daewoong Pharmaceutical official said, "Through the ‘2030 Global Formulation No.1’ vision, we plan to focus investment on technology groups that can provide products most needed by customers in the changing medical field and pharmaceutical industry," adding, "We will actively pursue open collaboration with companies that have proven technologies or new indications and technologies, rather than relying solely on our own technology or facility capabilities."

Yuhan and JW중외 Draw Attention: "Overcoming Growth Limits"

Yuhan Corporation is also recognized as a traditional pharmaceutical company actively engaged in open innovation. On the 1st of this month, Yuhan completed the selection of research projects for the ‘Yuhan Innovation Program (YIP)’ conducted for the first time this year. This program supports basic research to promote innovative new drug R&D, recruiting about 120 basic research projects from universities and research institutes, with 18 finally selected. Research support will begin in earnest from the third quarter, and commercialization potential will be cooperatively pursued in the future. Earlier last month, Yuhan signed joint development contracts with Ewha Womans University for new messenger RNA (mRNA) platform technology development and with the University of Cincinnati in the U.S. for new lipid nanoparticle (LNP) platform technology to enhance mRNA delivery. Recently, it has attracted industry attention by showing moves to enter new businesses beyond pharmaceuticals, such as investing consecutively in companies related to pet and daily necessities.

JW중외 Pharmaceutical, a leader in specialized medicines (ETC) such as infusions, is also accelerating joint research. Recently, it signed a joint research contract with bio venture Ilias Biologics to develop exosome therapeutics loaded with low-molecular-weight anticancer drugs. Since exosomes are attracting attention as next-generation drug delivery vehicles, this is interpreted as an effort to expand new therapeutic approaches for core development substances. It is also conducting joint research with bio venture Organoid Science to build a drug development platform based on ‘organoids,’ which are called long-term analogs, and in March signed an agreement with venture company OncoCross for AI-based innovative new drug development.

The expansion of open innovation by traditional pharmaceutical leaders is driven by securing future growth engines. Various research that is impossible for a single pharmaceutical company becomes possible through collaboration. Large pharmaceutical companies can secure platform technologies and discover candidate substances to build new pipelines, while bio ventures can receive research support and shorten the time to commercialization. A pharmaceutical industry insider said, "In a situation where the pharmaceutical bio environment is changing moment by moment and technology is advancing daily, it is not easy to find breakthroughs with the power of a single company alone," adding, "Since open innovation is providing new opportunities, the discovery of ventures and startups for collaboration will continue."