Recently in Korea's pharmaceutical and biotech industry, the departure of key research and development (R&D) leaders who have driven corporate growth has continued. Reasons vary, including job changes and retirement, but concerns are rising that a prolonged vacancy until successors are named could affect future corporate competitiveness.
According to the pharmaceutical and biotech industry on the 10th, resignations by R&D chief-level executives at major corporations have occurred simultaneously in recent days, raising concerns that continuity across key growth pillars—such as core pipeline strategy, clinical execution, and global collaboration—could be shaken.
In particular, because the departures involve key figures who have delivered tangible results in each company's technology out-licensing, joint research, and new drug clinical trials, some say it could weigh on sustained growth.
At ABL Bio, Vice President Yu Won-gyu, the head of research and development and a founding member who has led global tech-transfer results, recently tendered a resignation due to health issues.
The former vice president Yu built the framework of the company's research organization by developing the company's flagship "Grabody" bispecific antibody platform, establishing an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) strategy, and laying the groundwork for preclinical and early-stage research. He was also known to have played a key role this year in the tech-transfer deals with GSK plc in the U.K. and Eli Lilly and Company in the U.S.
With additional tech transfers expected going forward, the absence of the former vice president Yu, who left the company as of last month, is expected to have some impact on research strategy coordination and global collaboration.
However, the company says it has an organizational structure with responsible leaders for each major modality (therapy) such as BBB, bispecific antibodies, and ADCs, so any short-term research gap is limited. Still, given that a symbolic leader has departed, some expect the selection of a successor and organizational realignment to be inevitable.
At the artificial intelligence (AI)-based medical solutions corporation Lunit, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Senior Executive Director Ok Chan-young, who had overseen R&D for "Lunit Scope," left the company in September.
Ok, who worked as a professor in hematology-oncology at Seoul National University Hospital before joining Lunit in 2019, has led development of the immune-oncology response prediction platform "Lunit Scope," which is being fostered as the second growth pillar following the cancer early-detection AI solution "Lunit Insight." Ok also led joint research with global pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca in the U.K. and Roche in Switzerland.
During that time, Ok focused on advancing Scope technology, and Scope is now at a point of moving from a research phase to a commercialization phase. Lunit appointed Senior Executive Director Ahn Chang-ho, who has been conducting Scope research with Ok, as the new CMO. With Ahn, a former endocrinologist at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, at the center, the company plans to accelerate the commercialization of Scope in earnest going forward.
In particular, the departures of R&D leaders are more pronounced in the pharmaceutical sector. The industry views them as personnel moves arising during internal structural reorganization, but the lengthening time until successors are appointed is a burden.
At Yuhan Corp., after the recent resignations of Central Research Institute head Oh Se-ung and R&BD Headquarters Strategy Office head Yun Tae-jin, two core R&D post holders, Clinical Medicine Headquarters head (vice president) Lim Hyo-young and Research Business Development (R&BD) Headquarters head (vice president) Lee Young-mi are set to leave at the end of this year. As major organizations—the Central Research Institute, the R&BD Headquarters, and the Clinical Medicine Headquarters—under President Kim Yeol-hong, head of R&D, have all lost their chiefs, tension is being felt internally.
At Dong-A ST, following the resignation of R&D President Park Jae-hong in Oct., Senior Executive Director Ryu Kyung-young, who oversaw major businesses such as the overseas business division, bioprocess research, and supply chain management, and research fellow Lee Gun-il also left the company in quick succession. R&D at Dong-A Socio Holdings that had been led by former President Park will now be overseen by ST PHARM President Seong Mu-je.
At JW Pharmaceutical, after Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Park Chan-hee resigned, the company began a full-scale overhaul of its technology strategy by bringing in Kim Sun-young, the former founder of Helixmith and a gene therapy expert, as an R&BD advisor.
In the industry, there is analysis that it is more important to minimize the period of vacancy arising in the process of appointing successors than the personnel departures themselves. Because continuity in decision-making is key to new drug development, if the R&D cornerstone is shaken, pipeline management or mid- to long-term strategy development could be disrupted.
An official in the pharmaceutical industry said, "Recently, even traditional pharmaceutical companies seem to be shifting their development strategies to focus on biopharmaceuticals, so changes appear to be occurring in workforce composition," and added, "Successors to existing R&D leaders are likely to be people with extensive experience in the bio field, which could take more time."