Hanmi Pharmaceutical has consolidated its
position as one of the leading drug makers in Korea, standing as the country's
top pharmaceutical firm by market cap. However, growing risks from canceled
license-out deals have overshadowed its pharmaceutical business recently,
putting the group's leadership to the test.
Lim Chong-yoon, CEO of Hanmi Pharmaceutical
Group's holding firm Hanmi Science, said the group's pharmaceutical portfolio
is well-established globally, and so will not be swayed by those risks. At the
same time, he said the group will not confine itself to being a drug maker and
pursue the goal of becoming an "omnibus life care" provider to stay
competitive in the market.
Hanmi Science CEO Lim Chong-yoon / Courtesy of Hanmi Pharmaceutical
"Pharmaceuticals and biologics are
among the most promising areas for Hanmi, but there are windows to look
outside, and we plan to start a voyage to tap into unknown opportunities,"
Lim said during an interview with The Korea Times. "There is a curiosity basket
filled with opportunities, and projects with schools, hospitals and therapeutic
centers are where I would love to start."
Hanmi Science was established in 2010 as
the group's holding firm. Its role is not limited to managing the group units
and affiliates, but includes investments into R&D projects and new
businesses in the healthcare sector.
One of the noteworthy projects by Lim is
Coree Group, a group affiliate having units covering venture investments and
new business incubation, such as digital medical services, nutrition consulting
and a number of projects related to healthcare. As part of these, Coree
launched biobank projects in Italy and China in 2018 along with local partners.
"We believe what is beyond
pharmaceuticals is welfare," Lim said. "I have been thinking that we
need a total reformation of the health industry chain from medicine to omnibus
life care. And it is time for us to embrace creative destruction."
According to him, omnibus life care is
providing full services to bring back health to a patient, meaning it includes
not only the treatment of a disease through medication but also a study into
the cause of the disease and ways to prevent it. For this, Hanmi Science takes
care of the medical part and Coree is in charge of prevention and other services.
Along with Coree, Lim is expanding Hanmi's
domain by opening up its businesses to outside partners.
On Dec. 9, he visited China and met iKang
Healthcare Group Chairman Zhang Ligang. iKang Healthcare Group is a
preventative healthcare provider based on a medical examination network.
Reportedly, Lim and Zhang discussed the two sides' partnership for a digital
examination system. In addition to iKang, Lim met with the leaders of three
Chinese healthcare companies in December and discussed partnerships.
"Hanmi is one of the most active
Korean drug makers to sign partnerships with global companies," Lim said.
"However, the efforts were an outcome born out of desperation to overcome
partnership rejections from global drug makers and the growing burden of its
huge R&D investment."
Running into bumps
Lim's remark came amid growing risks in
Hanmi's main business of drug manufacturing.
In January 2019, Eli Lilly returned the
licensing rights for Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor HM71224, which Hanmi
Pharmaceutical licensed out in 2015 for $765 million. Six months later, Janssen
handed back rights to HM12525A, an antidiabetic obesity treatment, which Hanmi
also licensed out in 2015. The series of cancellations raised questions on
Hanmi Pharmaceutical's pipeline.
Regarding this, Lim said failures and
cancelations were common in the pharmaceutical business, and the company was
not swayed by failure.
"Hanmi has already established itself,
having over 400 drug licenses which use more than 90 percent of the manufacturing
sites that the company owns," Lim said. "In China, we have about 50
drug licenses approved by the China Food & Drug Administration and three
top prescribing drugs there."
Another risk which emerged recently is
Efpeglenatide, a new diabetes drug candidate which Hanmi licensed out to Sanofi
in 2015.
Efpeglenatide drew high expectation as it
requires weekly injections, unlike most existing diabetes drugs which require
daily ones.
However, new Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson said on
Dec. 10 that the French pharma giant was stopping all research into diabetes
and cardiovascular disease. Following the decision, Sanofi will finish the
drug's phase three clinical trials but will not launch it and instead seek a
partner to commercialize the drug.
Hanmi said the move was not related to the
drug's efficacy and safety, and the details of the licensing agreement and the
plan to file new drug applications in 2021 have not changed. However, this
raised questions over Efpeglenatide's future in the market as well as affecting
the stock prices of Hanmi Pharmaceutical and Hanmi Science.
"Sanofi, like many in this industry,
is among the most strategic and dynamic firms when it comes to reform in my
opinion, and it was a very bold decision by Sanofi that is in line with current
changes in the treatment of chronic diseases," Lim said.
"For the market, it is a good time to
find a partner since the technical strength of Efpeglenatide is still valid as
seen in the current phase three clinical trials. It can serve many patients
with the unique biological advantage of a prolonged-activity agonist
molecule."
Unlike Hanmi, Sanofi terminated its
diabetes drug partnership with Lexicon Pharmaceuticals in July as part of its
farewell to diabetes drugs, despite paying $260 million to Lexicon.
As Lim said, a number of analysts said
Sanofi's decision to finish Efpeglenatide's phase three trials means it highly
evaluates the value of Hanmi's technology in developing the drug.
The technology, Lapscovery, is a platform
technology that prolongs the duration of action of biologics, thus making it
possible for once a week or monthly treatments. Hanmi has made sizable
investments in recent years to produce biologics using Lapscovery.
"Lapscovery is effective as it can
translate into many metabolic related treatments, and the world needs more
advanced medicines using this technology to reduce patient inconvenience from
outdated drug regimens."
A Hanmi Pharmaceutical researcher tests a compound at the drug maker's
research center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of Hanmi
Pharmaceutical
Growing future experts
As part of his initiative to transform
Hanmi group into a total healthcare service provider, Lim said the group
believes in the power of education, so that more experts can expedite the
growth of Hanmi and the country's pharmaceutical industry.
On Nov. 25, Hanmi Science signed an MOU
with Pohang University of Science and Technology and agreed to carry out joint
research and collaborative efforts to educate and train experts in biologics.
Following the MOU, the two sides will
research the structure of cell membrane proteins by using light source
facilities, cryogenic electron microscopy and various other tools to develop
new drugs.
"The Korean biopharmaceutical industry
is facing challenges and opportunities at the same time, and it can overcome
those challenges through sharing its technology and opening up its
businesses," Lim said. "We need better industrial motivation so as to
produce more science lectures, projects, professors and students."
