The 2nd New York Health Forum

The 2nd New York Health Forum with the theme “The Pacific Connection: US-East Asia Pharma Collaboration” was held in Yale Club of New York City on February 11th, 2014. Over 100 individuals including investors, industry leaders, and physicians attended this forum. This forum was a jointed forum with New York Pharma Forum.

Dohyun Cho, PhD, the Chairman of New York Health Forum and Mark Dennish, the Vice President of New York Pharma Forum had given opening remarks to announce the forum. The goal and virtue of New York Health Forum is to build connection among healthcare leaders and business developers to collaborate their knowledge to target the future need in the human health. This forum was particularly important for East Asia pharma companies to expand their business in US or vice versa.

The 2nd New York Health Forum was composed of three sessions which were “Diverse Tracks to Global Market: Journey of Chinese, Japanese and Korean Pharma”, “Fitting into the Ecosystem: New Sustainable Strategies of Collaboration” and “Expansion Strategies of East Asian Pharma Companies: Shifting the Paradigm”.

Session 1 : "Diverse Tracks to Global Market: Journey of Chinese, Japanese and Korean Pharma"

Mark S. Paxton, JD, EVP of W Medical Strategy Group moderated the first session along with three panelists from Daiichi Sankyo, Simcere Pharmaceuticals, and Yongsung Fine Chemicals.

Session 2 : "Fitting into the Ecosystem: New Sustainable Strategies of Collaboration"

Kimberly Ha, Senior Director of FTI Consulting moderated the second session along with three panelists from Medidata, Esquared Asset Management, and Labrador Advisors.

Session 3 : "Expansion Strategies of East Asian Pharma Companies: Shifting the Paradigm"

Last session was moderated by Joe P. McMenamin, MD, JD, Chief Legal Officer of W Medical Strategy Group and along with three panelists from Oracle Investment Management, UK ChemiPharm, and Pfizer.

At the end of each session, panelists and audiences had chance for Q&A. Since networking among the healthcare leaders and business providers were also a significant benefit for attending New York Health Forum, many of them were able to get opportunities to go beyond the forum.

Forum was co-hosted by W Medical Strategy Group and New York Pharma Forum, and it was sponsored by Green Cross, Life Sciences Queensland, SLI Production corp, and Rivkin Radler. W Medical Strategy Group will host and organize New York Health Forum in May 21th Thursday. Location will be Explorer’s Club. For further information please visit www.newyorkhealthforum.net.

Mark Dennish who currently serves as Vice President at Daiichi Sankyo explained the importance of collaboration when doing business abroad. He mentioned that “collaboration is essential to companies in East-Asia to expand their business in US.”

Joy Wang who is the US office head of Sincere Pharmaceutical recapped on current status of Chinese companies opening US offices. She mentioned that “it is very important to have partners in US and how to get financial supports for further R&D.”

Howard Kim, director of BD for Yonsung Fine Chemical shared some essential tips when partnering with major pharma companies. “Korean pharma companies had been bystanders or observers of U.S. bio-pharmaceutical market so far. Now, they are willing to participate as players, and we are now witnessing increasing number of Korean companies knocking the doors of U.S. market.”

Bryan Spielman, EVP of Medidata mentioned, “It’s clear that using new technology to run clinical trials will make a huge difference in these emerging markets. There will be an interesting change in the way drugs are developed, prescribed and the way they are adhered to. We see a future where you are prescribed a compound as well as an app to ensure adherence. Asia has an opportunity to be out front from a regulatory position, as well. Technology will change how trials are conducted and commercialized,”

Les Funtleyder, Portfolio Manager of Esquared Asset Management has mentioned, “Major Pharma and biotech companies are looking more to become capital allocators while minority investments are going to be the way to the future.”

Debra Yu, MD, Managing Director of Labrador Advisors mentioned that “there are lots of potentials in China. Chinese domestic companies are looking to access innovative drugs but at the same time, they want to export their products. In this moment, US is also looking to tab into China pharma market.”

Han Choi, MD, LLM, Principal of Oracle Investment Management talked about the key points which investors seeking in Pharma Companies. He pointed out two key factors which are pricing and volume of sales. He quoted, “Korean pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have also been transitioning from a licensing-based business model to models based more on broader partnerships and joint ventures with U.S. and European pharmaceutical companies. This transition is important because if Korean biotechnology companies discover global blockbuster drug candidates, monetizing them in the global market through their own subsidiaries would allow them much greater participation in the overall franchise revenue potential and thus lead to company and sector upward re-ratings.”

Young-Seok Byun, PhD, Head of R&D at UK ChemiPharm discussed the needs and factors to build a GMP facility in US based on their recent experience. He quoted, “Developing global NCE products had been a long time goal for Korean pharma and biotech companies. But in reality, out-licensing activities were most common business transaction so far. I think building sustainable businesses through direct product revenue recognition will be much better strategy than having a royalty stream. For such extend, we are looking into acquiring U.S. pharma companies, and more and more Korean companies are recognizing M&A significant collaboration model.”

Yuan-Hua Ding, PhD, Executive Director & Head of Asia/Pacific Pfizer said “it is essential to form external R&D team from academic institutes and partnering with other companies regardless of their business size.”

April 6, 2015