South Korea was highlighted as a collaboration destination at the Trans-Pacific Health Sciences Dialogue held in Philadelphia from September 16 and 17. This specific health science dialogue is a C-level meeting for biopharmaceutical industry executives who want to accelerate, explore and develop collaborations and partnerships with their counterparts in the most important Trans-Pacific health care markets including Japan, China, Korea and North America. Over the course of two days, executives, investors, and experts shared their insights and experiences to discuss current trends, issues with panel discussions and case studies that targets growth, achieves objectives, adds value and minimizes risk on both sides of the Pacific.

A session titled South Korea: A Rising Player in the Global Biopharmaceutical Industry focused on exploring collaboration opportunities of Korea. This session was moderated by Dr. Do Hyun Cho, CEO and President W Medical Strategy Group, and discussed by two other panelists Mr. Han Bang, managing director from Betachem Inc., and Dr. Tae Wan Kim, Professor at the Columbia University Medical School. 

Dr. Cho discussed about the status of Korea BioPharmaceutical industry and its competitiveness in the global market. Current governmental policies were introduced and the vision of Korea BioPharmaceutical industry was discussed. Mr. Bang explained the competitiveness of Korean drug industry in global market and introduced examples of factors that make Korea such competitive and attractive collaboration partner. Dr. Kim discussed about the factors why experts favor Korea as a hub for global R&D collaborations and why other alliances such as infrastructures & financials are well developed in South Korea. He compared Korean industry to other developed industry and explained about the productivity in R&D and how to overcome the cultural barriers in deal process. This session provided many potentials of Korea as prospective partner with global companies through Public Private Partnership, R&D investment, and clinical trials. Many audiences who attended the session showed their interest towards collaboration with Korea.