Pharmaceutical Bio Association Hosts Platform for 'Open Innovation' Collaboration

Exterior view of the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Association building in Bangbae-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul (Photo by Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Association)

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] The Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association announced on the 29th that it will hold the ‘2022 KPBMA Open Innovation Plaza’ on the 5th of next month at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. This event was organized by the association to promote domestic and international open innovation activities within the industry.

According to the association, 29 companies will participate as technology providers in the event’s highlight, the ‘Business Partnering,’ revealing their core new technologies. A total of 36 business partnering applications, reflecting high expectations, have been received in advance. The partnering between technology providers and demand companies will be held one-on-one for about 30 minutes starting at 1 PM on the day of the event.

The companies that have expressed their intention to supply technology at this Open Innovation Plaza include NetTarget, Neuroventi, Dr. Noah Biotech, Medirita, Bionsite, Seranotics, SpeBio, Syntekabio, SeedmoGen, OwlBio, Angiolab, SCM Life Science, AjosBio, Enterobiome, Oncocross, YouthBioGlobal, Infovos, Illimis, G2G Bio, Curigen, Qgenetics, Tion Lab Therapeutics, Panoros Bioscience, Pharos Eye Bio, PharmCAD, Preclina, HolosMedic, Huchem Bio, and Hits (in alphabetical order), totaling 29 companies. These companies possess new drug platform technologies, candidate substances, bio-material production, artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, and digital technologies.

The association will accept participation applications for technology supply and demand sectors until the 30th for companies that have not yet joined the partnering. Business partnering applications will be closed on a first-come, first-served basis by the 30th to ensure smooth event preparation.

Initial screen of the pharmaceutical bio open innovation platform (Photo by Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association)

Additionally, the event will feature the launch ceremony of the ‘Pharmaceutical and Bio Open Innovation Platform’ (tentative name), which comprehensively compiles new drug pipeline information held by domestic pharmaceutical and bio companies. The association expects that open innovation among companies for new drug development will be further activated through this platform.

Presentations of outstanding company cases and seminars will also be held. Starting with the keynote speech by Won Hee-mok, chairman of the Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Association, titled ‘Open Innovation: The Shortcut to Success in the Pharmaceutical and Bio Industry,’ Huh Kyung-hwa, CEO of the Korea Innovative Medicines Consortium (KIMCo), will introduce the KIMCo investment platform and its operational plans, and Kim I-rang, chairman of the AI New Drug Development Council, will present successful cases of joint research in AI new drug development.

Furthermore, presentations on topics such as ▲Lesson from the Masschallenge in Venture (Jihee Jung, CEO of MediIPlus) ▲Development of Sustained-release Microparticle Injection Technology Using InnoLAMP-based Technology (Hee-yong Lee, CEO of G2G Bio) ▲The Best Target The Best Chemical (Nam Gi-yeop, Vice President of Pharos Eye Bio) ▲CRG-01 for Treatment of AMD and DR (Ki-rang Park, CEO of SeedmoGen) ▲Pipeline Development Cases Using AI Solution ‘ARK’ for Discovering Innovative Combination Drugs (Hye-ryung Kim, Team Leader of Dr. Noah Biotech) will follow.

The Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Association stated, “This Open Innovation Plaza will be a golden opportunity to encounter next-generation promising technologies and commercialize them,” adding, “We will continue to promote research and development and technology commercialization to activate open innovation and further accelerate the establishment of a new drug development ecosystem.”