​[ASCO 2025] Why can’t Korea also do it? KDDF head Park says 

 “As I listened to various presentations and talked with global drug development officials at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2025 Annual Meeting (ASCO 2025), I kept thinking, ‘Why not? (We can also do it.)’”

Park Yeong-min,  CEO of the Korea Drug Development Fund (KDDF), said so while meeting with reporters at the ASCO 2025 conference in Chicago, USA, on Sunday (local time).

Park said he thought a lot when he saw Big Pharma in the U.S. and Europe leading global drug development and Chinese companies joining the ranks of global drug development at a frightening pace, but his conclusion was hope: “We can also do it.”

“It was frustrating to think about the situation of Korean drug development companies sandwiched between the large booths of global pharmaceutical companies and Chinese companies that have leaped global pharmaceutical companies at ASCO 2025,” Park said. “Nevertheless, I thought that Korean drug development companies could do the same (as Chinese companies) and that if we do it step by step, we could join the ranks of global drug development.”

KDDF participated in ASCO this year with a large number of executives, led by Park, to introduce Korean anticancer drug development capabilities to the international stage and expand opportunities for global collaboration. They traveled to Chicago to introduce the domestic anticancer development pipeline to global drug development companies and seek overseas technology transfer and joint development.

“We were impressed with the presentations related to the latest trends, including novel cancer mechanism-based therapies, combination therapy with immuno-oncology drugs, biomarker-based precision medicine, and patient-centered treatment strategies using real clinical data,” Park said. “We saw the research results presented or exhibited by domestic companies and identified technology transfer possibilities and joint development needs to help them connect with global partners.”

He added that based on these global trends, KDDF plans to more precisely design R&D and commercialization support strategies that domestic drug development companies actually need.

Park, saying he could have a comprehensive overview of anticancer drug development at ASCO 2025, reiterated that Korean companies could develop new anticancer drugs, stressing that KDDF plans to support all available resources as a facilitator for these domestic drug development companies.

→ Read the full article on [Korea Biomedical Review]