SEOUL - Novartis signed a memorandum of understanding with Korea's Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs to invest $100 million (KRW 125 billion) over the next five years in the research and development of new drugs, scientific exchanges and collaboration in the life sciences.

The deal positions Novartis as the fifth multinational pharmaceutical company to sign such a big investment pact with the Korean health ministry.

Under the MOU, Novartis will significantly expand its clinical research programs in Korea, including global clinical trials and investigator-initiated clinical trials for developing new drugs, while the company continues to invest in promising bioventure companies in Korea through its Novartis Korea Venture Fund.

One of the world's biggest venture funds in the bio sector, executives at the Novartis Venture Fund said last year that they would invest $20 million in Korea over the next five years (Also see "Life Sciences Investors Talk Shop On Asia Opportunities – Singapore Conference" - Scrip, 28 April, 2008.).

Since then, the Novartis Korea Venture Fund, OrbiMed's Caduceus Asia Partners and local Korean vaccine producer Green Cross said they would invest $6 million in the next three years to support development of PharmAbcine's fully human monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases (Also see "Novartis Korea Venture Fund, OrbiMed Co-lead Series A Financing For South Korean mAb Developer PharmAbcine" - Scrip, 22 September, 2009.).

At the signing ceremony at the health ministry, Novartis Korea President Peter Jager noted that Korea "has strengths in excellent medical infrastructure and researchers and medical professionals with high expertise and passion."

"It is also encouraging that in recent years we see there's an increasing interest in the overall R&D arena ranging from drug discovery to development," he said. "We hope Novartis will contribute to advancing clinical research excellence and support biomedical science in Korea by strengthening continued collaborations with Korean government agencies and the Korean scientific community."

He said the MOU signed by the two parties came on the heels of the Korean government's efforts to nurture the biopharmaceutical industry as one of the next-generation growth engines while local pharma companies transition to accelerate their R&D efforts to develop new drugs and advance into the global market.

Health Minister Jeon Jae-Hee said she expects collaboration between the Korean government and Novartis based on the MOU to "further bolster new drug research and development capacity in Korea and upgrade the local healthcare industry."

Novartis Joins Otsuka, Pfizer, Sanofi-Aventis, AstraZeneca In Korea

Novartis is in good company in Korea. As reported last month, Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceuticals signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korean health ministry to invest roughly KRW100 billion ($83 million) in research and development of new drugs, as well as for clinical trials, over the next five years in Korea (Also see "Japan's Otsuka Signs MOU To Invest $83 Million In Korea By 2013" - Scrip, 14 September, 2009.).

Sanofi-Aventis signed an MOU with the Korean government to invest KRW 70 billion ($55.4 million) in R&D over the next five years, with a focus on expanding early-stage clinical trials here as part of its global development program with Korea as one of its major reference countries (Also see "Sanofi-Aventis Signs MOU With Korean Health Ministry To Invest $55 Million In R&D" - Scrip, 18 June, 2009.).

Two years after signing a memorandum of understanding, Pfizer and Korea's state-run Korea Research Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology signed a formal agreement May 18 to start collaborative research work in the joint development of drugs for liver and gastric cancer. The latest deal with KRIBB is part of Pfizer Korea's plan - outlined in an agreement signed with the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs in June 2007 - to invest a total of KRW 300 billion ($238 million) from 2008 to 2012 to make Korea its Asian hub for new drug development (Also see "Pfizer Korea Signs Development Pact With State KRIBB For Liver and Gastric Cancer Drugs" - Scrip, 18 May, 2009.).

Pfizer announced in February 2008 that it would move its clinical trials from Japan to South Korea because of regulatory delays and the inability of Japan's hospitals to test adequate numbers of people (Also see "Kyowa Hakko’s Parkinson’s Drug Is Not Approvable – U.S. FDA" - Scrip, 28 February, 2008.).

- Peter Chang (p.chang@elsevier.com)

Novartis Signs MOU To Invest $100 Million In R&D, Exchanges With Korean Scientists By 2013

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