Song Youngsook Appointed as CEO
Focus on Management Normalization and New Drug Development
Obesity Drug Set for Launch Next Year
The year-long management dispute within Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group has finally come to an end. The group is expected to focus on normalizing management, which was disrupted during the dispute, and fully commit to strengthening its new drug pipeline.
According to industry sources on the 14th, Hanmi Science resolved the resignation of former CEO Lim Jong-hoon at a board meeting held the previous morning and appointed Song Young-sook, Chairwoman of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group, as the new CEO. The 'mother-daughter faction,' consisting of Song, the spouse of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group founder Lim Sung-ki, and their daughter Lim Joo-hyun, Vice Chairman of Hanmi Pharmaceutical, had been at odds with the 'brother faction,' including Lim Jong-yoon, an inside director of Hanmi Science, and former CEO Lim Jong-hoon, over inheritance tax issues and governance. With former CEO Lim Jong-hoon stepping down from the management front, the management dispute ended in a victory for the mother-daughter faction.
The management dispute began in January last year when Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group attempted a merger with OCI Group. The mother-daughter faction, including Chairwoman Song and Vice Chairman Lim, sought to resolve inheritance tax issues and pursue business cooperation through the merger, but the brother faction opposed it. Ultimately, the merger was canceled as the brother faction secured a majority on the Hanmi Science board at the regular shareholders' meeting. The conflict continued, and the mother-daughter faction allied with Shin Dong-guk, Chairman of Hanyang Precision, who holds a significant stake in Hanmi Science, and the private equity firm La D?fense Partners. Through this process, the inheritance tax issue was resolved. In July, Chairwoman Song and Vice Chairman Lim secured funds for inheritance tax payments by selling 6.5% of Hanmi Science shares to Chairman Shin Dong-guk for 164.4 billion KRW through a stock purchase agreement. Consequently, the possibility of pursuing mergers with other groups to pay inheritance tax has significantly diminished.
For the time being, Hanmi Pharmaceutical Group intends to focus on normalizing management. After the dispute ended, Chairwoman Song and former CEO Lim emphasized their commitment to restoring stable management. The company stated that Chairwoman Song plans to reorganize and stabilize the group’s organization and dedicate herself to normalizing management. Former CEO Lim Jong-hoon said, "I resign from the CEO position today," adding, "As a member of the founder’s family, I will strive for the company’s development." Hanmi Science mentioned that there will be an official opportunity to announce a more advanced governance structure after the regular shareholders' meeting in March.
Despite the turmoil caused by the management dispute last year, Hanmi Pharmaceutical once again set a record high performance. Last year, the company recorded sales of 1.4955 trillion KRW (a 0.3% increase from the previous year) and an operating profit of 216.2 billion KRW, a 2% decrease. The company is particularly placing high hopes on its new drug pipeline, including obesity drugs. The group plans to strengthen its core competency in new drug development and ensure thorough commercialization.
Hanmi Pharmaceutical has advanced the launch schedule of its obesity drug 'Epeglenatide' to the second half of next year, earlier than initially planned. Epeglenatide is the first candidate in Hanmi’s obesity drug project 'H.O.P,' and the company is mobilizing all its resources for commercialization. The goal is to achieve annual domestic sales of 100 billion KRW and a market share exceeding 50%. This reflects confidence that it can surpass existing obesity drugs such as Wegovy and Saxenda.
This obesity drug belongs to the 'glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)' class, like Wegovy, and is expected not only to have weight loss effects but also to offer the best cardiovascular and renal protective benefits among GLP-1 class obesity treatments. In November last year, Hanmi Pharmaceutical announced at the '2024 Hanmi Pharmaceutical Innovation Day' its ambition to become a top-tier global pharmaceutical company ranked within the top 50 in global sales by achieving 5 trillion KRW in sales and 1 trillion KRW in operating profit within 10 years.
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