The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) hosted the 2nd Korea-Japan Bio Ecosystem Roundtable in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, February 20, chaired by Minister Oh Youngju. This meeting followed the “Plan to Create a Bio Venture Innovation Ecosystem,” announced during the inter-ministerial session on January 15 to enhance industrial competitiveness.

The roundtable featured prominent pharmaceutical and biotech companies from Korea and Japan. Representing Korea were six leaders of MSS-supported bio ventures, including PARK Hyun-sook, CEO of CeFo Co., Ltd., whose treatment was recently designated an orphan drug by the European Medicines Agency, and KIM Youngho, CEO of Edgene, known for its gene-editing technology.

Japanese participation included senior executives like Fujimoto Toshio, Founding CEO of Shonan iPark, and representatives from leading pharmaceutical firms such as Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Astellas Pharma, Sumitomo Pharma, and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma.

The roundtable reviewed the cooperative achievements since the 1st Korea-Japan Bio Ecosystem Roundtable held on May 10, 2024. Achievements include the integration of eight bio ventures into Shonan iPark for overseas validation, the creation of a unified promotional booth at BioJapan in October 2024, a joint bio venture investor relations session in Boston targeting top global VCs in December 2024, and the K-Bio Venture Partnering Conference on January 18, 2025, which promoted partnerships between 58 Korean bio ventures and 21 Japanese pharmaceutical companies at Shonan iPark.

Discussion at the roundtable recognized that new drug development is complex and time-intensive, necessitating extensive experimentation and validation with a high risk of failure. Participants stressed the importance of collaborative technology development in cutting-edge areas like cell therapy, gene therapy, and tumor microenvironments to improve success rates and reduce risks.

Minister Oh Youngju commented, “The pharmaceutical and biotech industries are global fields that transcend national borders, and robust cooperation in advanced bio fields will be an invaluable asset for future generations in both countries.” She added that to maintain Korea and Japan’s global leadership in these sectors, efforts would be intensified to support bio cooperation diversification, encourage deeper company exchanges, promote joint R&D, and establish collaborative funds.

Earlier that day, Minister Oh met with Keiko Oishi, President of CMIC Co., Ltd., Japan’s largest Clinical Research Organization (CRO), to discuss potential partnerships that could combine innovative ideas from Korean bio ventures with CMIC’s advanced clinical trial expertise. She also attended the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony between the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency and CMIC to enhance bio sector collaboration.