Pohang Mayor Lee Kang-deok's Broad Efforts to Attract POSTECH Medical School and Foster the Bio Industry

Visit to Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association and Kangstem Biotech, Fostering the Bio Industry

Exploring Cooperation for POSTECH Medical School Establishment and Bio-Specialized Complex Attraction

Mayor Lee Kang-deok of Pohang City visited the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association (Chairman Noh Yeon-hong) and Kangstem Biotech (Founder Kang Kyung-sun), both located in Seoul, on the 17th.

On the 17th, Lee Kang-deok, Mayor of Pohang, visited the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association and urged Noh Yeon-hong, President of the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association, to take an interest in the establishment of the POSTECH School of Medicine.

This visit was aimed at swiftly responding to the recruitment of POSTECH Medical School, a key project promoted by Pohang City, and the national advanced strategic industry specialized complex contest in the bio sector. Kim Sung-young, chairman of the Pohang Bio-Enterprise Council (CEO of Three Brooks Therapeutics), accompanied him.

During the morning visit to the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association, Mayor Lee Kang-deok explained to Chairman Noh Yeon-hong the purpose of establishing POSTECH Medical School to improve the underdeveloped local medical environment and enhance citizens' quality of life, requesting the association’s keen interest and cooperation.

In the afternoon, he visited Kangstem Biotech to meet Founder Kang Kyung-sun and discussed ways to build cooperative relationships related to fostering a bio-specialized complex by combining the country’s top company in the organoid field and POSTECH’s original bio-printing technology.

The Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association, representing the domestic pharmaceutical and bio industry, was founded in 1945. It consists of 189 regular members including Hanmi Pharmaceutical, Celltrion Pharm, SK Bioscience, and 97 associate members such as Samsung Biologics, Organoid Science, and Genexine. The association engages in various activities including innovative drug development, production of excellent pharmaceuticals, overseas market expansion, and establishment of ethical management.

Kangstem Biotech was established in 2010 with the aim of developing stem cell therapies for rare and intractable diseases and was listed on KOSDAQ in 2015. Its core businesses include stem cell therapies derived from umbilical cord blood, organoids, and contract development and manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. Recently, it has commercialized hair loss treatments based on hair follicle organoids.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok said, “Pohang City, which achieved success in designating a secondary battery specialized complex, is focusing on attracting POSTECH Medical School and designating a bio-specialized complex to open a new future from battery patriotism to bio patriotism. Based on Pohang’s excellent bio infrastructure, I ask for interest and cooperation so that it can bear fruit and become a model case to overcome regional extinction.”

Pohang City has long recognized the bio industry as a future growth engine and is building the capabilities and infrastructure to match. It boasts excellent infrastructure including the nation’s only 3rd and 4th generation synchrotron radiation accelerators, POSTECH, a world-class research-oriented university, Handong Global University for global talent cultivation, Bio Open Innovation Center, RIST, Pohang Technopark, and Changeup Ground.

In particular, centered on the Pohang Convergence Technology Industrial District designated as a small but strong research and development special zone, it has differentiated competitiveness through the concentration of bio infrastructure such as the Membrane Protein Research Institute, the third of its kind established worldwide after Germany and the United States, the Green Vaccine Demonstration Support Center, the nation’s first plant vaccine commercialization facility, and the Knowledge Industry Center, a specialized space for venture and small-medium enterprises.

The “POSTECH Medical School Establishment Signature Campaign” conducted by Pohang City since December was successfully completed with the participation of more than 300,000 people.