“Technology alone won’t break into the U.S. market”... SK Biopharmaceuticals opens local network to 31 Korean biotech firms

[Financial News] Many Korean biotech companies have good technology but cannot get past the U.S. market’s threshold because they lack local networks and commercialization experience. SK Biopharmaceuticals is now fully launching a hub to help them establish themselves in the United States.
SK Biopharmaceuticals announced on the 9th that it had selected 31 Korean pharmaceutical and biotech companies as tenants of SK Life Science LinX, which opened in June inside the office of its U.S. subsidiary, SK Life Science.
“Because it is difficult to enter the U.S. market with good technology alone, experience building a business locally and networks are important,” said Donghoon Lee, president of SK Biopharmaceuticals. “Through LinX, we will share with Korean companies the experience we have gained developing cenobamate and commercializing it directly in the United States, and expand practical support so that each company’s technology can lead to local partners and business opportunities.”
LinX is an open innovation platform created by SK Biopharmaceuticals to help promising Korean pharmaceutical and biotech companies enter the U.S. market and grow locally. Spanning about 160 pyeong (529 square meters), it will serve as a “K-Bio bridge” linking Asia’s research and development (R&D) capabilities with the North American market.
The 31 selected companies operate in a range of fields, including pharmaceuticals, digital health, AI, medical devices and platform technologies. They can use local office space, meeting rooms and other workplace facilities.

The tenant companies will also receive support with expert advice, establishing themselves locally and partnering through the “K-Bio Global Innovation LinX” consortium led by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).
The organizations will divide up the work. SK Life Science will connect the companies with its in-house expertise in clinical trials, FDA matters and business development (BD). KOTRA will help identify local partners and arrange consultations, based on company-specific needs assessments and its roster of experts. The New Jersey and New York chapters of the Korean American Society in Biotech and Pharmaceuticals (KASBP) will connect them with external experts in FDA matters, patents and regulation, as well as industry networks.
A one-on-one expert advisory program will also be offered, tailored to each company’s challenges and needs. The five areas of advice are FDA and regulatory approvals; company formation and tax; intellectual property (IP) and patent strategy; clinical development and technology transfer; and business development.

Seminars, training and partnering sessions will also be held on an ongoing basis. The seminars and training will focus on information about establishing a presence in the United States—including investment and market entry, visas and settling in, and accounting and tax—as well as commercialization experience and industry trends. For partnering, each company will first define the areas in which it is seeking collaboration, then connect with global pharmaceutical and biotech events to find local partners.
Open innovation programs, including technology pitches and training to strengthen business development capabilities, will also be offered to tenant companies and other promising companies. The aim is to connect them with opportunities to collaborate with local investors and pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
SK Biopharmaceuticals plans to share with tenant companies, including through in-house expert seminars, its experience as the first Korean company to carry out the entire process—from drug development and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to direct sales and commercialization in the United States. It also plans to expand its open innovation activities, including AI-based discovery of drug candidates, technology advisory agreements and licensing agreements for preclinical candidates, and to flesh out its “East-West Bridge” strategy linking Asian technology with the U.S. market.  [email protected] Reporter Jung Myung-jin