KT&G(CEO Young-jin Min) held the opening ceremony of KT&G Life Sciences (CEO You-he Lee) at the headquarter building in Daechi-dong, Seoul, announcing the take-off of its new medicine development business.
KT&G acquired Mazence, a biotech venture, last December and renamed it to KT&G Life Sciences with reinforced R&D capacities by hiring more experts on new medicine development.
KT&G Life Sciences has set the stage for becoming a company specialized in innovative, new medicine development in diverse areas by expanding its development category to include the drugs for metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity that Mazence had been researching on top of the new drugs for clinical trial such as cancer and osteoporosis as well as new medications for the treatment of atopic dermatitis which are about to be commercialized.
KT&G plans to make its biotech subsidiary Korea’s No. 1 new medicine development company by concentrating all its capacities relating to new drug development into KT&G Life Sciences ranging from new drug discovery to clinical research & development to commercialization. Meanwhile, it also plans to maximize the competitiveness of its pharmaceutical and bio business by creating synergy effects with Youngjin Pharm, another subsidiary.
A person relevant to KT&G said, “KT&G will become a globally competitive, world-class company with the launching of KT&G Life Sciences by strengthening the fundamental of its pharmaceutical and bio business while creating a more balanced business portfolio along with tobacco, health functional food and cosmetics business both at home and abroad.”
