The fight against cancer is a global challenge without borders. BeOne Medicines' success strategy lies in building a foundation for global collaboration and strengthening corporate capabilities from a long-term perspective.
John V. Oyler, chairman of BeOne Medicines, met with ChosunBiz on the 18th and said, "BeOne Medicines will continue to innovate cancer treatment with talented individuals from around the world."
BeOne Medicines is a global oncology-focused pharmaceutical company that currently operates in 45 countries. Chairman Oyler founded BeiGene, a cancer drug development company, in 2010. Initially, offices were located in Beijing, China, and Philadelphia, USA. BeiGene was listed on the Nasdaq in 2016 and changed its name to BeOne Medicines last May.
The company's main drugs are the anti-cancer drug Brukinsa and the immuno-oncology drug Tevimbra. Both drugs entered the global market after receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 2019 and 2024, respectively. The company reported annual sales of $3.8 billion (approximately 5.2535 trillion won) last year. It has maintained an annual sales growth rate of over 50% since 2022. The current market capitalization is $32.7 billion (approximately 45 trillion won).
Chairman Oyler, an engineer who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), co-founded the company in 2010 with Dr. Xiaodong Wang, a biochemist who graduated from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Wang, a co-founder, currently serves as the chairman of the company's scientific advisory board.
Chairman Oyler said, "We had a common goal in the fight against cancer," and noted, "We founded the company together under the vision of enabling more patients to access treatments at reasonable prices."
When BeOne Medicines was established, many biotech companies around the world were emerging to challenge cancer drug development. However, it is extremely rare for a company to conduct phase 3 clinical trials and achieve FDA drug approval and commercial success.
The two opted for a strategy of simultaneous entry into the U.S. and China from the beginning. While most small biotech companies and pharmaceutical corporations transferred technology to larger firms or outsourced clinical trials to external contract research organizations (CROs) during the early development phase, this company conducted clinical trials independently in various countries.
Chairman Oyler viewed the reliance on external CROs and the concentration of clinical trials in only some hospitals in the U.S. and Europe as problematic, stating, "In the early days of the company, we secured initial capital by transferring two technologies and reinvested all of it to strengthen our internal clinical trial capabilities."
The company conducted preclinical research in China and clinical trials in Philadelphia, USA, during its early years. It then expanded its clinical trials starting in Australia to Korea, Europe, and beyond. Management organized teams in various countries and cooperated with local hospitals to conduct clinical trials directly. Chairman Oyler referred to this as "decentralized global operations."
Currently, BeOne Medicines has approximately 3,700 staff dedicated to clinical trials, with operations spread across all six continents. More than 95% of the planning and operations for clinical trials, from phase 1 to phase 3, are conducted directly by the internal organization. In Korea, around 70 individuals are conducting clinical trials to demonstrate the efficacy of the cancer drugs. BeOne Medicines explained that by conducting clinical trials directly, they were able to quickly resolve various issues in different countries and accelerate the pace of drug development.
Chairman Oyler said, "For instance, in places like Indonesia where there are insufficient hospitals or where cold chain distribution is weak, we need to change the formulation to subcutaneous injections instead of intravenous ones," adding, "To solve these problems, it's crucial to understand and respond to each country's unique circumstances directly."
Brukinsa, BeOne Medicines' flagship anti-cancer drug, is an oral anticancer medication for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and mantle cell lymphoma. It is currently approved in over 70 countries worldwide. Tevimbra is an immuno-oncology drug used for various solid tumors, including esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer. According to the company, the number of patients treated globally with Brukinsa and Tevimbra reaches approximately 1.7 million.
The company stated that it is developing 25 potential anti-cancer drug candidates in the pipeline following the two anti-cancer drugs. Chairman Oyler remarked, "Currently, two drugs in the hematology are in late-stage development with commercialization targeted within a few years," and added, "Last year, over ten solid tumor candidates entered the clinical trial phase."
He came to Seoul with a schedule to sequentially visit branches in Korea, Japan, and China. Chairman Oyler said, "Korea, in particular, has established itself as a major research area thanks to excellent medical infrastructure and healthcare professionals, with a significant portion of early-stage research being conducted here," and noted, "In the future, when new drugs are commercialized, there is a high likelihood that the medical teams in Korea will be among the first to use these treatments globally."
BeiGene, which is the predecessor of BeOne Medicines, has long been recognized as a Chinese company. This is partly because a co-founder is Chinese-American and the name is similar to that of Beijing, the capital of China. In reality, BeiGene grew based on the research conducted in China. Some market interpretations suggested that the company's name change to BeOne Medicines this year is influenced by the U.S.-China conflict.
The company drew a line regarding this perspective, explaining that BeiGene has simultaneously operated with headquarters in both Beijing and Philadelphia from the beginning, implementing decentralized operations globally. Chairman Oyler noted, "The decision to change the name was meant to reaffirm our firm intention regarding oncology in light of the concerns from patients and healthcare professionals."
According to Chairman Oyler, affected by recent U.S. government policies, the profitability of anti-cancer drugs has declined, prompting many pharmaceutical companies to shift their focus to higher-revenue treatment areas, such as diabetes and obesity. BeOne Medicines emphasized oncology in this context, changing its stock market identification code to 'ONC' as a commitment to continue focusing on anti-cancer efforts.
BeOne Medicines' corporate address is in Basel, Switzerland, but it operates a decentralized structure without a specific national headquarters, having multiple hubs. Approximately 11,000 employees work in 45 countries across six continents. The large manufacturing facility is located in Princeton, New Jersey, and some raw pharmaceuticals are produced in Europe.
Chairman Oyler stated, "BeOne Medicines' management is leading business expansion directly from locations such as New York and San Francisco in the U.S., and China, and Switzerland, as needed," adding, "Employees actively utilize video conferencing and digital technology." He concluded, "The headquarters is 'wherever I am today,' and the philosophy of BeOne Medicines is that anyone can become a leader without geographical limitations."