On the 16th (local time), at the '2025 CKD Pharm Golden Ticket' event held in Boston, USA, Youngjoo Kim, CEO of Chong Kun Dang, Nikola Ivica, CEO of Indura Therapeutics, and Mike Lahet, CBO of LabCentral, are posing for a commemorative photo. Photo by Chong Kun Dang
On the 16th, Chong Kun Dang held the '2025 CKD Pharm Golden Ticket' event in Boston, USA, together with LabCentral, a core institution of the biocluster.
This event was part of LabCentral's 'Luminescence Rise and Fun(d)' program. It was attended by Youngjoo Kim, CEO of Chong Kun Dang, Howon Kim, Head of CKD USA, Jaehwi Kim, Consul General at the Boston Consulate General, Yongwoo Kim, Director of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, Soonman Park, Head of the U.S. Office, and Yeonhong Noh, Chairman of the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association. A record 43 companies participated, making it the largest Golden Ticket event to date.
Through this event, Chong Kun Dang awarded the Golden Ticket to InnDura Therapeutics, a bio startup selected through a preliminary screening process, and will support its residency at LabCentral as well as the establishment of a global network. The judging panel included Professor Jinmo Park and Professor Youngbum Kim from Harvard University, as well as Dr. Debra Peattie.
The Golden Ticket is a sponsorship program that allows promising startups to reside at LabCentral and use advanced research space and community facilities free of charge for one year. It is designed to support early-stage startups that have strong technology but lack funding, providing them with real growth opportunities and discovering promising innovative new drug candidates.
Last year, Chong Kun Dang established its U.S. subsidiary, CKD USA, in Boston and joined LabCentral's premium sponsorship tier, the Gold Membership. Starting this year, the company began its Gold Level sponsorship, which enabled it to award the Golden Ticket.
Through this initiative, Chong Kun Dang plans to proactively identify promising technologies and pipelines of startups at an early stage and expand its presence within the Boston biocluster. The company aims to use this as an opportunity to effectively promote its open innovation strategy and R&D direction to the global market, as well as to strengthen strategic partnerships.
A Chong Kun Dang representative stated, "The CKD Pharm Golden Ticket is more than just sponsorship; it is a platform for open innovation where we work alongside global pharmaceutical companies to discover innovative technologies. Going forward, we will continue to expand our network with global pharmaceutical and biotech companies, centered on CKD USA, and broaden the horizons of research and development collaboration."
LabCentral is a nonprofit organization managed by the state government of Massachusetts and is a world-renowned bio startup incubator. Since its establishment in 2013, it has supported more than 278 early-stage bio companies, resulting in a total of 180 patents, 132 clinical trials, and over $18.4 billion in investment. Last year, 10% of all early-stage bio investment in the United States originated from LabCentral companies.
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