South Korea’s clinical trial approvals rebounded in 2023, but remained lower than the peak levels in 2020-21 amid then robust R&D activity related to COVID-19. Last year's tally showed a mix of single-country and multinational trials and reflected the ongoing dominance of oncology in industry pipelines.

Scrip wraps up major R&D and corporate developments for Korean biopharmas in 2022 and outlines what lies ahead for them in the new year.

Korean companies, including large conglomerates and non-biopharmas, are increasingly jumping into biologics manufacturing through cross-border acquisitions following the successes of Samsung and SK.

Among recent highlights, SK Bioscience files for approval of recombinant protein COVID-19 vaccine GBP510, Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s Chinese subsidiary continues to report strong earnings, led by cold drug sales, while Yuhan’s novel peptide drug candidate for degenerative disc disease is set to move into a Phase III trial in the US.