China rises as global R&D leader, K-bio not in top 50

Hanmi Pharm has the highest investment in R&D the most among Korean biopharma

The top 50 companies for R&D investment worldwide included mostly Big Pharma, such as Roche, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck

The R&D investment gap between Korean biopharmaceutical companies and Big Pharma is increasing.

 

Analysis suggests that Korean companies must seek measures to respond to competition for next-generation technology as the R&D investment centers around the United States and China.

 

On February 5, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) announced the results of analyzing analyzed the top 2,000 companies as part of the 2024 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard report, which was reported on December 2024 by the EU Joint Research Centre.

 

According to the results, the United States ranked No.1 in both the number of companies and investment amount in the 2023 list of top 2,000 companies for R&D investment worldwide.

 

The number of US companies included in the top 2,000 companies for R&D investment totaled 681.

 

In 2023, the US accounted for 42.3% of the investment amount, totaling EUR 531.9 billion.

 

Table: Top 10 countries by the number of companies and investment amount in the 2023 list of top 2,000 companies for R&D investment worldwide.

Notably, China's growth rate last year was outstanding.

 

In 2023, China ranked No.2 with 524 companies and an investment amount of EUR 215.8 billion.

 

Compared to the 2013 record, 119 companies and EUR 18.8 billion, the number of Chinese companies added to the top 2,000 companies increased to 405 and the investment amount increased 11.5-fold over 10 years.

 

Out of the top 10 countries, China is the only country that has continuously increased both the number of companies and investment over 10 years.

 

Analysis suggests that the investment trend tipped toward the US, an unchallenged No.1, and China, with robust growth.

 

The number of US and Chinese companies included in the top 2,000 R&D investments totaled 1,205, which accounts for 60.3%.

 

The net R&D investment amount is EUR 747.7 billion, close to 59.5%.

 

The number of Korean companies on the list decreased from 54 in 2013 to 40 in 2023.

 

However, South Korea maintained No.8 in rank, defending the position relatively well.

 

As per the investment amount, South Korea ranked No.7 in 2013 with EUR 19.3 billion, then increased to No.5 with EUR 42.5 billion in 2023.

 

For pharmaceutical companies, Big Pharma's investment showed marketed increases.

 

Compared to 10 years before, the R&D investment increases were 3.4-fold for the US-based Gilead Sciences, 3.1-fold for AbbVie, 3.1-fold for Bristol Myers Squibb, and 3-fold for AstraZeneca.

 

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, R&D investment increased significantly.

 

Big Pharma

Among Korea's biopharmaceutical companies, Hanmi Pharmaceutical invested the most in R&D.

 

R&D investment over 10 years increased twofold.

 

Hanmi Pharmaceutical's R&D investment increased from EUR 70 billion in 2023 to EUR 130 billion in 2023.

 

The top 50 companies included Roche, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb, Oracle, Novartis, Sanofi, AbbVie, GSK, Siemens, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bayer, Gilead Sciences, and Takeda Pharmaceutical.

 

No Korean biopharmaceutical companies were listed among the top 50 out of the 2,000 ranked companies.

 

Among the top 40 of 2,000 ranked companies, Korean companies included Hanmi Pharmaceutical, GC Corp, Daewoong, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, Yuhan Corp, Celltrion, Chong Kun Dang, and Ildong Pharmaceutical.

 

Hanmi Pharmaceutical, which ranked first in R&D investment, was followed by GC Holdings with EUR 126 million, Daewoong with EUR 124 million, and Yuhan Corporation with EUR 116 million in R&D.

 

Kim Hyun-soo, head of the KCCI's Economic Policy Team, said, "As the introduction of China-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) start-up's DeepSeek shocking the world shows, the competition between companies over the industry's leading technologies intensifies." Kim added, "South Korea must enhance R&D through tax supports, such as increasing tax exemption for investing in the next-generation R&D facilities, a measure under review in the National Assembly, and increasing the deduction rate for basic R&D."