As the global economy remains in a slump, even big pharmas such as Novartis and Pfizer are cutting costs. So how should Korean biopharmas adapt to such an environment and move ahead? Korea Drug Development Fund CEO H. Samuel Muk provides some ideas on how domestic players can survive in this new global reality.

The Pink Sheet takes an infographic look at South Korea's clinical trial trends in 2022 to illustrate how the country's biopharma R&D is developing and how activities are recovering in the post-pandemic situation. One key takeaway is that approvals for trial starts have fallen back to pre-COVID levels, suggesting a falling off of activity related to drugs and vaccines for the virus.

The firms’ partnership goes back to pre-merger Celgene, and BMS still has Dragonfly candidates in its pipeline. Ji Xing gets hypertension candidate from Phase Bio.

Hyundai Bioscience’s niclosamide-based oral antiviral moves into Phase II, joining other Korean COVID-19 treatment candidates in the pivotal trial stages, while SK Bioscience’s Phase III recombinant protein vaccine gears up for global market entry.