By Choi Sung-jin
Korea's drug manufacturers, stimulated by the recent success of Hanmi Pharmaceutical, are aggressively increasing their investments in research and development while recruiting the related manpower, industry sources said Friday.
The nation's 10 largest drug makers will expand their R&D spending by 10 to 20 percent next year. Hanmi Pharmaceutical, which signed a one trillion-won ($866-million) licensing deal with Janssen last month to develop a diabetes treatment, plans to spend its royalty revenue on R&D investment.
Other major makers, including Green Cross, Chong Kun Dang and JW Pharmaceutical, will also focus on developing new drugs through sharply increased R&D outlays.
The combined investments in research and development by 53 listed drug makers is estimated to top one trillion won next year, or 10 percent of their total sales, which industry watchers say is the inflection point for becoming global makers. According to a report by Korea Development Bank, global pharmaceutical and bio businesses invest 15 to 30 percent of their sales into R&D.
To back up their efforts to develop new drugs, the domestic makers are going all out to recruit specialized manpower. Green Cross, for example, has plans to increase its R&D manpower to 400 this year, and recruit an additional 40 next year, hiring holders of master's and doctorate degrees from home and abroad. Smaller makers, such as Ildong, Daewoong and Kwangdong, are also beefing up staff for developing new products and conducting clinical tests for the drugs they have already developed.
There are even signs of a "recruitment war" among firms, stealing talent from competitors by providing bold incentives, the sources said.