Hanmi Pharmaceutical Sets New Milestone with 3.2 Trillion Won Technology Export... Spotlight on Im Juhyun's Leadership

Exclusive Technology Export of HM17321 to Genentech

Record-High Upfront Payment for a Single Drug Candidate

R&D Investment Yields Results Amid Management Dispute

Hanmi Pharmaceutical has achieved the largest new drug development milestone in its history, surpassing the accomplishments made during the era of founding chairman Lim Sung-ki. The company has signed the largest new drug technology transfer (license-out) agreement in the history of the Korean pharmaceutical industry based on a single drug candidate. The size of the upfront payment, regarded as a qualitative measure of technology exports, has also set a new record for a single candidate, opening a new chapter in Korea's new drug development story.

According to the pharmaceutical industry on August 24, Hanmi Pharmaceutical signed an exclusive license agreement with Genentech, a subsidiary of Roche Group, for the innovative new drug candidate "HM17321 (UCN2 analog)", aimed at treating metabolic conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. The agreement is worth up to approximately 2.3 billion dollars (about 3.1892 trillion won), with the upfront payment alone amounting to 190 million dollars (about 262.9 billion won). This drug candidate is drawing expectations as a potential game changer in the obesity and metabolic disorder sector, owing to its excellent weight loss effect while preserving or even increasing muscle mass.

Seoul Songpa-gu Hanmi Group Headquarters. Hanmi Group

This achievement is regarded as particularly significant because it surpasses the accomplishments of the late chairman Lim, who passed away in August 2020. The market is focusing on the leadership of Hanmi Group Vice Chairman Lim Juhyun, who is carrying on the founder's will that "a pharmaceutical company that does not conduct R&D is a dead company."

It is also being evaluated that the leadership of Vice Chairman Lim, which had been overshadowed by a family management dispute over differing approaches to sourcing inheritance tax after the passing of the late chairman, has been reaffirmed through this achievement. Despite intense disputes, he has maintained Hanmi’s core R&D values and boldly pursued new drug development projects.

H.O.P Bears Fruit with 3.2 Trillion KRW Technology Export

In particular, industry analysts highlight that this success is especially meaningful because it is one of the core pipelines in Hanmi Pharmaceutical's obesity and metabolic disease innovation project "H.O.P (Hanmi Obesity Pipeline)", which was personally designed and driven by Vice Chairman Lim. H.O.P is a full-cycle obesity treatment solution project that aims not only at weight loss but also at improving body composition, preserving and increasing muscle, enhancing medication convenience, and maintaining post-weight loss management. Hanmi Pharmaceutical currently operates six pipelines, focusing on efeglenatide, HM15275, HM17321, HM500197, among others.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical is also planning to launch "Efe" (efeglenatide), a GLP-1 obesity drug, in the second half of this year, marking the start of the H.O.P project. Having previously achieved significant growth in chronic disease treatments, Hanmi Pharmaceutical is now seen as laying the groundwork to become a global pharmaceutical company specializing in obesity and metabolism.

ChatGPT Generated Image

Unwavering R&D Amid Corporate Governance Disputes Leads to Consecutive Achievements

The earlier technology export of the rare disease treatment "sonapeglutide" to Eli Lilly is also drawing renewed attention. Developing new drugs for rare diseases, which require significant time and financial investment and often have uncertain market prospects, has been an area where calls for the suspension of ongoing projects have been frequently raised, both domestically and internationally. Notably, Vice Chairman Lim continued with the development despite both internal and external pressures to halt these projects for reasons of cost and efficiency.

He was reportedly subjected to concentrated pressure from certain major shareholders to discontinue development. In this context, Eli Lilly’s decision to license the sonapeglutide technology is seen as further validation of Hanmi Pharmaceutical's R&D strategy and pipeline competitiveness in the global market.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical's proprietary platform technology "LAPScovery" is also being highlighted again. LAPScovery is a platform that dramatically extends drug efficacy duration and improves both dosing convenience and therapeutic efficiency, constituting a core R&D asset that Hanmi Pharmaceutical has built up over the past 20 years. It has been applied to several key pipelines, including efeglenatide.

Indomitable Spirit in New Drug Development Proven Globally

The industry sees this Genentech agreement as not just a technology export but also as proof—in the global market—of the competitiveness and strategic direction of Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s R&D focus on metabolic diseases and the H.O.P project. It is a symbolic achievement that shows the R&D-centered management philosophy of the late founder Lim remains intact under the next generation of leadership.

A Hanmi Pharmaceutical official stated, "Amid the turmoil following the passing of the late chairman, Hanmi Group was able to stay focused on new drug development and produce results because Vice Chairman Lim Juhyun was a steadfast supporter at the helm. If not for his ongoing, behind-the-scenes support—enabling our staff to focus solely on their work and shielding Hanmi from external pressures in turbulent times—such achievements would have been difficult." He added, "As Vice Chairman Lim is an operations-oriented leader who quietly dedicates himself to his work without seeking the spotlight, his leadership is not well known to the outside world."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.