Shin Yoo-yeol, the son of Shin Dong-bin, chairman of LOTTE Group, is attending the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference (JPM 2025) held in San Francisco, United States, on the 13th (local time), managing the LOTTE Biologics business meeting personally.
Since 2023, Shin has also been serving as the head of global strategy at the pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) affiliate LOTTE Biologics. Until now, the former CEO of LOTTE Biologics, Lee Won-jik, has taken the lead in domestic and international official events, but this is the first time Shin has attended a major pharmaceutical and biotech event this year. Previously, Shin participated in the CES 2024 electronics and information technology exhibition held in Las Vegas in January last year, but did not attend the JPM 2024 held at the same time.
Shin appeared at the Westin St. Francis Hotel, where the JPM is held, starting at 6:30 a.m. He attended the opening ceremony in the second-floor event hall and listened to main presentations from major global pharmaceutical companies such as Roche and Johnson & Johnson (J&J). Sitting next to Shin was James Park, the new CEO of LOTTE Biologics.
Shin was seen speaking with CEO Park, who took notes on paper. James Park, previously the CEO of GC Cell, moved to LOTTE Biologics after resigning last November and took office last December. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Davis, he earned a master's degree in industrial engineering from Columbia University. He has also served as head of global sales at Merck (MSD), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) in the U.S., and as CEO of GC Cell.
With LOTTE bringing in a CDMO expert, attention is drawn to the synergy between the two. During the event, Shin and Park also networked and held business meetings while listening to presentations from major corporations.
LOTTE Group recently completely withdrew from the business of its bio new business affiliate LOTTE Healthcare. Consequently, achieving performance such as securing contracts for LOTTE Biologics' CDMO has become increasingly important. LOTTE Biologics, officially launched in 2022, began its business acquisition activities by acquiring the Syracuse production facility in New York from Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) for $160 million (approximately 202 billion won), but there are still no CDMO contract achievements.
LOTTE Biologics will make a corporate presentation at the Asia-Pacific (APAC) session of the JPM event on the 16th (local time). It plans to introduce the construction status of the Songdo Bio Campus and the ADC production facility at the Syracuse Bio Campus in New York and disclose the production readiness status for 2026. Construction of the mega plant No. 1 in Incheon Songdo International City began in March last year, and the company aims for completion in the second half of this year, with the goal of obtaining Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) approval by the second half of 2026. The goal for full-scale commercial production is set for 2027.
Meanwhile, JPM is the world's largest healthcare investment event held annually in January by JP Morgan, the largest investment bank in the United States. It provides insights into global market trends, as well as the major plans and management and investment directions of various corporations. According to JP Morgan, this year, 531 corporations will present. More than 8,000 investors and industry officials have registered. The number of one-on-one meeting requests between corporations and investors is expected to exceed last year's figure of more than 30,000.