Huons aims to lead R&D at new Gwacheon facility

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Huons aims to lead R&D at new Gwacheon facility

Published: 19 Dec. 2024, 14:56 Updated: 19 Dec. 2024, 14:58

The Huons Dongam Research Center in Gwacheon [HUONS]

Huons Group is focusing on its research and development capacity as it looks to bolster momentum for long-term growth, evident in its election of Dr. Park Kyung-mi as its new R&D vice president.

Park, who earned a pharmacy Ph.D. at Seoul National University, built a 27-year career as a clinical development expert for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Her experience in clinical trial planning and authorization as well as sales made her ideal to spur Huons’s long-term growth, with an emphasis on stronger communication between divisions.

The company recently set up the Huons Dongam Research Center as its main R&D hub in the Gwacheon Knowledge Information Town in Gyeonggi. Completed in September, the center integrates research facilities and human resources from the central Huons Research Center and subsidiaries including Humedix, Huons Biopharma and Huonslab.

Established in 1965, Huons expanded to pharmaceuticals, medical devices, health care food products and cosmetics, carrying on the momentum of the group’s vision as a “a global total healthcare group providing medical solutions” through R&D.

The company notably developed the first Korean plastic injection vial in 1998, which eliminated the risk of glass shards with standard vials.

Huons continues to conduct research on novel drugs, modified new drugs, health-functional foods, medical devices and more, along with new modes of R&D with novel drug candidate introduction and an open innovation model that encourages external collaboration.

With Chung Ang, Kookmin and Sungkyunkwan universities, the group recently received government funding to develop an obesity and diabetes drug. In September, an oral peptide drug under development was selected for the 2024 Materials & Components Technology Development Program of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The project aims to develop absorbefacients with improved bioavailability and formulation technologies as well as production and manufacturing technologies.

Huons is also claiming territory in novel competitive industries, acquiring biopharmaceutical company PanGen on Nov. 6 in a bid to advance into the biopharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization sector.

Humedix is innovating in fillers and novel ventures, with clinical trials underway for a polynucleotide sodium composite filler set for release in 2026 with approval is granted from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

Humedix is also pursuing local heparin sodium manufacturing, a pharmaceutical raw material that is listed on the World Health Organisation’s Model Lists of Essential Medicines that Korea currently relies on Chinese imports for. In March, Huons became the first to register a heparin sodium Drug Master File with the Drug Ministry and is preparing for commercial production.

Cosmetics subsidiary HuM&C developed a manufacturing recipe for a nitrile butadiene rubber cosmetic tool that can suppress the generation of nitrosamine, a highly toxic carcinogen, after two years of research.

BY KIM YEONSOO [[email protected]]

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