韩美药品重启对生物技术初创企业的小额股权投资以扩大开放式创新

Hanmi Pharmaceutical (128940) has resumed equity investments in promising biotech startups, expanding its open innovation push. The drugmaker put a combined 4 billion won into two startups with different drug discovery platforms early this year, then hosted an event last month connecting biotech companies with investors. Analysts say Hanmi, which has proved its in-house research and development strength through a series of large licensing deals, is now moving more aggressively to secure innovative technology from outside.
Hanmi invested 3 billion won in Intera, an unlisted biotech firm, on January 21, according to pharmaceutical and biotech industry sources on the 31st. The company acquired 167,215 shares for a 7.9% stake. Two days later, on the 23rd, it put 1 billion won into Molgen Bio, securing 24,911 shares, or a 4.4% stake.
Intera is developing a norovirus vaccine. Its lead pipeline candidate, INT-101, a trivalent VLP norovirus vaccine, dosed its first patient in a Phase 1 domestic trial this month. Molgen Bio discovers small-molecule drugs from microorganisms. It has built its own MtG (Molecule Through Gene) platform and is developing candidates including MG-TA205, a disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.
Hanmi continues to broaden its contact with startups. Last month the company held the Hanmi × Kiwoom Bio Innovation Day with Kiwoom Securities (039490), connecting 10 biotech and healthcare companies with investors including venture capital firms, private equity funds and brokerages.
The industry is watching whether Hanmi's in-house drug development capability and its venture investments can generate synergy. A string of recent large licensing deals has again highlighted the company's ability to identify and develop drug candidates. After licensing a candidate to Eli Lilly in June, Hanmi signed an exclusive licensing agreement on the 24th of this month with Genentech, a Roche subsidiary, for an obesity and metabolic disease drug candidate worth up to $2.305 billion, or about 3.2 trillion won.
"Investing in promising biotech startups from an early stage offers not only the prospect of gains in equity value as the company grows, but also a range of options as the technology is validated, including joint research, co-development of new drugs and technology licensing," an industry official said. "Strategic investment is becoming more useful in terms of combining internal R&D with external innovation."