At J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Korean pharmaceuticals set to share strategies, seal deals
Published: 14 Jan. 2025, 13:39
Updated: 14 Jan. 2025, 19:43
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- LEE JAE-LIM
- [email protected]
![A man leaves the registration room at the 43rd J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, in San Francisco, California, on Jan. 12. [REUTERS/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/14/900d0ddb-91bc-4a4f-a062-a596c7ff215f.jpg)
A man leaves the registration room at the 43rd J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, in San Francisco, California, on Jan. 12. [REUTERS/YONHAP]
SAN FRANCISCO — This year’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference is projected to facilitate several deals worth over $10 billion, driven by the efforts of participating companies, including Korean industry powerhouses, to diversify their drug portfolios and strengthen their market positions amid expectations of a more supportive regulatory environment under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
“Eventually the dam starts to break,” said Ben Carpenter, J.P. Morgan’s global co-head of health care investment banking, in his opening speech. “I would expect to see at least a few deals that rise above $10 billion.”
The 2025 edition is expected to attract more than 8,000 participants from 550 companies.
Amid heightened security due to the December murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson at UnitedHealth Group's annual investor meeting in New York, the Westin St. Francis Hotel in downtown San Francisco, California, was bustling and upbeat at the onset of the 43rd J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, with biopharma giants such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche and Johnson & Johnson announcing their recent landmark deals and new drug pipelines in the Grand Ballroom on Monday morning.
Johnson & Johnson made a red-carpet entrance with the announcement of the $14.6 billion acquisition of Intra-Cellular Therapies, a firm that develops treatments for central nervous system disorders. The deal is part of the pharmaceutical giant's efforts to dig into cures for neurological diseases such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and depressive disorders, defined as the “catalyst of growth” by Chairman and CEO Joaquin Duato during the company’s presentation.
Although Trump’s health care policies still remain hazy, enthusiasm for mergers and acquisitions is rebounding under the president-elect’s “Make America Great Again” agenda. This follows a significant slowdown in 2024, when deal activity reached a decade low with no transactions surpassing $5 billion.
“What policy is ultimately going to be is unknown,” said Jeremy Meilman, who co-heads J.P. Morgan's health care investment banking group. “What we do know is that the incoming administration does have a generally more pro-business stance.”
About 50 Korean companies will take part in the weeklong biotech showcase in search of new partners and related business meetings, grouped under the themes of contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMO), antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) and weight-loss drugs.
Samsung Biologics and Celltrion, Korea’s largest biopharmaceutical players, will again take center stage in the Grand Ballroom, as they did in 2024 edition.
J.P. Morgan is known to invite leading companies in the industry, and only 27 selected major players can present in the main room.
It is Samsung’s ninth consecutive year attending the annual conference, and Celltrion’s second consecutive one.
Samsung Biologics CEO John Rim will present on the company’s future strategy focusing on its CDMO and ADC operations on Tuesday.
In 2024, the Korean pharmaceutical giant accumulated CDMO orders reached a record-high figure of 5 trillion won ($3.4 billion). It operates four CMO plants in Songdo, Incheon, with a fifth facility under construction that is scheduled to commence operations this April.
The drugmaker also recently announced an extended partnership with another bio company, LigaChem Biosciences, on ADC projects on Jan. 9. The two companies will begin at least three projects this year at Samsung Biologics’ ADC facility in Songdo, Incheon.
On the same day, Celltrion’s founder and chairman, Seo Jung-jin, and co-CEO, Seo Jin-seok, will outline the drugmaker’s dual-track strategy to focus on both biosimilars and original drugs, as well as time frames for 13 drugs — nine ADCs and four multispecific antibodies — to be released through 2029.
Lotte Biologics, led by newly appointed CEO James Park as of last month, is set to present at the Asia-Pacific track on Thursday, where it will introduce its soon-to-be completed ADC production facility in the United States, and its upcoming contract plans. The company is investing 4.6 trillion won by 2030 to build three bio mega plants in Songdo with a total production capacity of up to 360,000 liters (95,000 gallons).
LigaChem Biosciences, although not part of the official presentation lineup, will participate in the showcase with a focus on licensing its ADC platform, ConjuALL.
Hanmi Pharmaceutical, D&D Pharmatech and Inventage Lab will also be active at the conference, with plans to conduct business meetings in search of potential deals on their pipelines for obesity treatments.
BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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