After acquiring a majority stake in ProteoVant last year, South Korea's SK Biopharm is continuing to hunt for new modalities and is now moving into the hot radiotherapeutics area through a deal with Full-Life Technologies.

SK Bioscience’s acquisition of top 10 CDMO marks first major acquisition as part of its growth acceleration strategy and the biggest such investment so far by a Korean vaccines firm. Execs say deal is aligned with SK Group’s wider moves to 'rebalance' its businesses.

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.

With big pharma on a radiopharmaceuticals buying spree, New York-based Actinium Pharmaceuticals has been pointed to as the next potential takeout target.