À̹ÌÁö È®´ë [Photo provided by Celltrion Inc.]
Celltrion stood in the lead in terms of R&D manpower among South Korean pharmaceutical and biotech companies, while Hanmi Pharmaceutical topped in R&D expenditure versus revenue.
According to the latest business reports from local healthcare companies with over 500 billion won ($441.1 million) in annual sales on Thursday, an average 18 percent on their payroll are scientists and researchers, and of them, 65 percent hold master¡¯s or doctorate degrees.
In terms of the absolute number of R&D staff, Celltrion ranks first with 645, with nearly one third of its total 2,158 employees committed to R&D. Of them, 52 are Ph.D. degree holders and 302 master¡¯s. Key scientists include Seo Jin-seok, executive vice president responsible for product development, and Kwon Ki-sung, senior managing director and head of the company¡¯s research and development unit.
À̹ÌÁö È®´ë Celltrion is followed by Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical in the absolute number of R&D professionals who account for 24.1 percent of the company¡¯s total 2,270 employees. About 70 percent of them hold master¡¯s or doctorate degrees.
Hanmi comes first in terms of R&D spending against sales. In absolute terms, Celltrion is the country¡¯s largest R&D spender with 389.2 billion won or 20.8 percent spent out of 1.84 trillion won sales last year, but Hanmi was slightly higher than Celltrion. Hanmi generated 1.07 trillion won in sales last year and spent 226.1 billion won on R&D, accounting 21.0 percent of total sales. It has 538 R&D professionals and of them, 64 are doctorate degree holders and 285 master¡¯s.
By Kim Si-gyun and Minu Kim
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]