In search of new partnerships and foreign investments, South Korean pharmaceutical companies have headed to the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference to promote their drug pipelines and business portfolios to global investors.

The annual four-day event, which kicks off Monday in San Francisco, California, is the world’s largest and oldest annual health care symposium, which brings together the world’s top pharmaceutical firms and investors to seek out new drug candidates and technologies.

The JP Morgan Healthcare Conference is a closed-door event and attendance is allowed strictly on an invitation-only basis. Thousands of pharma companies make their way to the event every year for networking opportunities and business meetings.

For Korean pharma firms, the conference is considered a critical opportunity to present their product pipelines and their potential to big pharma and global investors, and forge ties that could lead to mega licensing deals in the future.

This year, the CEO of Korean contract drug manufacturer Samsung BioLogics will be delivering a presentation as part of the event’s Main Track, with aims to land new contracts and appeal to potential clients.

Meanwhile, Korean pharma firms including Celltrion, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, LG Chem, SK Biopharmaceuticals and Seegene will be presenting their drugs and R&D pipelines during sessions held in the Emerging Markets Track.

Celltrion CEO Kim Hyoung-ki is set to promote clinical and sales track records for its latest blockbuster biosimilar drugs Herzuma and Truxima as well as its development agenda for the subcutaneous version of Remsima.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical, which unveiled its antibody binding platform technology Pentambody during the conference last year, is expected to introduce the details of its first immune-oncology drug substance developed with this platform technology this year.

LG Chem, which will be delivering a presentation at the JP Morgan event for the first time, will showcase its product portfolio and new immuno-oncology drug R&D roadmap to foreign investors.

SK Biopharmaceuticals, which is attending the conference for the first time, is looking to present the third-phase clinical trial results of a new sleep disorder drug, SKL-N05 (solriamfetol), which has been submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration for approval.

The Korean drugmaker is reportedly scheduled to hold meetings with major investment banks, as it is preparing for an initial public offering this year.

Seegene, a Seoul-based molecular diagnostics technology company, is expected to highlight its lineup of molecular diagnostic assays built using an artificial intelligence system based on pathological big data and algorithms at this year’s conference.

Other Korean biopharma companies, including GC Pharma, Dong-A ST, JW Pharmaceutical, Sillajen, Yuhan Corp., Daewoong Pharmaceutical, CKD Pharmaceuticals, HanAll Biopharma, Genexine and Crystal Genomics, will also be attending the San Francisco event for trend analyses and investor meetings.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)