The world's largest bio fair, the Bio International Convention (BioUSA), was held on the 16th (local time) in Boston, USA. The area around the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center was bustling with attendees from various countries since morning. According to the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, more than 20,000 participants from over 90 countries and around 9,000 corporations are expected to attend this year. The organization has recorded more than 60,000 meetings between corporations.
On the opening day, the vigorous participation of Asian pharmaceutical and bio corporations from Korea, China, and Japan was noticeable. Korea recorded its largest attendance ever with over 80 corporations participating this year. Japanese corporations also showed proactive moves based on large-scale investments. This year, a changed atmosphere among Chinese corporations was particularly noticeable. Last year, many Chinese corporations did not participate due to U.S.-China tensions, but this year, Chinese businesspeople could be seen everywhere, even without exhibition booths.
◇Korea's presence increased, record largest participation
The exhibition booths of Korean pharmaceutical and bio corporations such as Samsung Biologics, Celltrion, SK Biopharm, Lotte Biologics, and Dong-A Socio Holdings were larger in size and had more diverse promotional programs compared to large companies from the United States and Europe.
The Korean Pavilion, managed by the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), was established in its largest ever size of 560 square meters (approximately 169 pyeong), with 51 corporations participating. If including companies attending without booths for presentation sessions, the total number of participating corporations becomes over 80, indicating that more Korean corporations are entering the global bio market.
Samsung Biologics has operated a solo booth at the bio fair for 13 consecutive years. This year, they set up a 167 square meter booth equipped with an LED wall at the entrance of the exhibition hall. The company focused on showcasing its contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) competitiveness and its newly launched antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) service as well as its artificial intelligence (AI)-based operational system.
James Choi, vice president of sales support at Samsung Biologics, introduced the booth and noted, "We optimized it for meetings with global corporations," adding, "An interactive screen allows attendees to see the services offered by the company." The company reported that it had secured about 100 meetings with foreign corporations.
SK Biopharm, which operated a solo booth for the first time at this event, also hung a large screen promoting the company brand and its epilepsy treatment drug "cenobamate." A representative from SK Biopharm said, "We are showcasing videos based on cases of patients using cenobamate and introducing advertisements currently running across the United States."
At 3 p.m., a quiz about SK Biopharm and a prize drawing event drew a large crowd in front of the booth. SK Biopharm stated that they had about 200 scheduled meetings with other corporations.
◇China's bio industry moves to separate from politics
Wuxi Biologics, China's largest contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), did not set up a booth. As the U.S. pushed for the 'biosecurity law' restricting transactions with Chinese bio corporations, Wuxi Biologics decided not to participate in BioUSA last year.
Although the absence is similar, the atmosphere was different from last year. At last year's event, there were many voices predicting a possibility of large-scale exit of Chinese bio corporations from the global market due to the U.S.-China conflict. In contrast, this year, voices indicating that 'Chinese corporations are still strong' emerged.
In fact, the biosecurity law the U.S. was pursuing did not pass Congress last year. The industry has suggested that China actively responded through professional lobbying agencies. While it was hard to find Chinese corporations last year, this year, Chinese and Hong Kong corporations set up booths. A representative of a domestic bio corporation remarked, "Wuxi Biologics may not have a booth, but they are actively holding partnering meetings at this year's event."
Lee Seung-kyu, vice president of the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization, met with reporters at BioUSA and stated, "China already has significant competitiveness in the bio field, and voices are increasing that it is not easy to exclude China from the global value chain, which generates value from drug development to production and supply, so we need to separate politics from industry."
In fact, there have also been movements from recent Chinese corporations and global large pharmaceutical companies to separate political conflicts from business. BeiGene, a Chinese cancer drug development corporation, changed its name to BeOne Medicines in May and relocated its registration to Switzerland. Examples of global pharmaceutical companies choosing Chinese bio corporations as new drug development partners have continued this year. However, forecasts indicating that the second Trump administration is likely to revisit the biosecurity law targeting Chinese bio corporations have also emerged, meaning that uncertainties remain for Chinese bio corporations in terms of business.
◇Japan increases large-scale M&A and infrastructure investment
Japan is targeting overseas corporations with large-scale investments. At this event, Fujifilm Group established a booth larger than that of its competitor Samsung Biologics. Fujifilm operated a single booth by connecting the group and its CDMO subsidiary, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies.
The company entered the media culture (microbial culture media) business by acquiring Wako Pure Chemical Industries in a merger and acquisition (M&A) in 2017. The following year, it acquired Irvine Scientific in the U.S. for $800 million (approximately 1 trillion won) and established a media production plant in the Netherlands in 2021.
The company announced plans to invest $3.2 billion (approximately 4.36 trillion won) in the U.S. after appointing Lars Petersen, who had served as chief operating officer (COO) at the Hillerod plant in Denmark, as the chief executive officer (CEO) in June 2023. The company is also taking steps to expand its California plant and establish a research and development (R&D) center.
Kita-gawa Suguru, a sales manager of Fujifilm International, stated, "Fujifilm is famous for cameras, but now we are focusing more on the pharmaceutical and bio fields." When asked if he sees the crisis of Chinese bio under the biosecurity law as an opportunity for Fujifilm's business expansion, he replied, "Yes," adding, "Korean corporations are also one of our major customers."
Other Japanese corporations are also actively investing in the bio field. Hwang Joo-ri, head of the Exchange Cooperation Division of the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization, noted, "AGC Biologics, a bio pharmaceuticals CDMO subsidiary of the Japanese global glass manufacturing company AGC Group, is aggressively pursuing M&A to acquire manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Europe."
Following China and Japan, it has been pointed out that other Asian countries are showing similar trends, indicating that Korea needs to accelerate the strengthening of its bio industry competitiveness.
Lee Seung-kyu, vice president of the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization, said, "Not only Japan and China, but also India and Thailand are making significant investments in bio, so I believe the time for the Korean bio industry to enjoy competitiveness is not long." He added, "It is a maximum of 5 years at most" and insisted that before then, corporations in our country need to enter the global market more and achieve results.
On the second day of the event, the 17th, former President George W. Bush will attend as a special guest. It is anticipated that issues surrounding U.S. bio industry policies and the U.S.-China conflict will be discussed on-site.