Hanmi Pharm Co., Ltd. (Korean한미약품 주식회사; Hanja韓美藥品 株式會社) is a South Korean pharmaceutical company that is headquartered in Seoul.[1]

Hanmi Pharm Co., Ltd.
Native name
한미약품
Hanmiyagpum
IndustryPharmaceutical
Founded1973; 51 years ago (1973)
FounderLim Sung-ki
Headquarters,
South Korea
Websitehanmi.co.kr
Hanmi Pharm
Hangul
한미약품
Hanja
Revised RomanizationHanmi Yagpum
McCune–ReischauerHanmi Yakp'um

History

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1973 to 2009

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Hanmi was founded in 1973 by Lim Sung-ki, who was a pharmacist.[2] It was originally named Lim, Sung-ki Pharmaceutical Co., but it was quickly changed to Hanmi Pharmaceutical. The company originally started selling Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole powder, and would expand to produce Cephalosporin antibiotics in 1985 and injectable Ceftriaxone antibiotics in 1987. By 1988 the company was listed in the Korea Exchange.[3] Hanmi started selling drugs in China in 1996.[4] In 1994, the company began developing Cyclosporin. The company broke the 100,000,000,000 barrier in sales in 1997. The company began moving into the European market in 1998. The company still was developing new drugs, with Paclitaxel in 2000, Itraconazole tablets in 2001, 24-hour controlled-release Nifedipine tablets and a new salt form of Amlodipine in 2004, and an anti-obesity drug using sibutramine mesilate in 2007. Hanmi and Crystal Genomics formed a strategic partnership in 2008.[3]

2010 and beyond

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By around 2010, Hanmi's R&D had two areas of interest: developing longer-lasting peptide and protein therapeutics using its "Lapscovery" technology, and developing small molecule tyrosine-kinase inhibitors for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Its strategy was to developmental incremental modifications of existing drugs, create new combination drugs, and to develop novel drugs.[5][6]

In August 2014 Hanmi exclusively licensed rights in China for poziotinib, a small molecule EGFR inhibitor, to the Chinese company Luye Pharma; in February 2015 Hanmi licensed rights in the rest of the world outside of South Korea to Spectrum Pharmaceuticals.[5]

In March 2015 Hanmi and Lilly signed an exclusive license outside of Asia for Hanmi's small molecule Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor in the field of autoimmune diseases; Lilly paid $50 million upfront and the deal included up to $640 million in milestones and royalties greater than 10%.[7]

In November 2015 Hanmi signed three agreements:

  • An exclusive license outside of South Korea and China with Sanofi for Hanmi's Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist drug candidates for diabetes; Sanofi paid $434 million upfront and up to $3.2 billion in milestones and royalties over 10%.[8] The deal included efpeglenatide, a long-acting glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist; an insulin intended to be delivered once per week, and a fixed-dosed weekly GLP1-RA/insulin drug combination.[9]
  • An exclusive license outside of South Korea and China with the J&J subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals for Hanmi's oxyntomodulin-analog metabolic disease programs, including HM12525A; J&J paid $105 million upfront and the deal included $810M in milestones and royalties higher than 10%[8]
  • An exclusive license in China with the Chinese company ZAI Labs for olmutinib.[4]

In April 2016 Hanmi announced that it had acquired land near Yantai in the Shandong province of China, where it would build a manufacturing plant and R&D facility; at that time it already had a facility in Beijing.[4] In July Hanmi said it intended to invest more heavily in developing candidate substances of promising new drugs at an early stage in new pharmaceutical and biotech related fields, including through a venture capital firm set up by Sung-ki and colleagues.

In May 2016 the Korean regulatory authority approved olmutinib as a second-line treatment for certain kinds of non-small cell lung cancer.[2]

On September 28 Hanmi and Zentec Pharmaceuticals agreed that Zentec would market Hanmi's small molecule cancer drug candidate, HM95573; Zentec paid $80 million upfront, with $830 million in milestones, and royalties.[10]

On September 29, Hanmi and Roche's cancer subsidiary Genentech announced a deal for Hanmi's Phase I cancer drug candidate, HM95573, which targets the MAPK/ERK pathway; Roche agreed to pay $80 million upfront, and the deal included $830 million in milestones.[11]

In December 2016 the Sanofi deal was reduced in scope, with Hanmi receiving back rights to the once-weekly insulin and the combination GLP1-RA/insulin product, and agreeing to repay Sanofi $250 million of the $434 million upfront payment.[12]

On December 3, 2019, Rapt Therapeutics and Hanami Pharmaceutical announced collaboration to develop and commercialize FLX475 in Asia.[13] FLX475 is an oral, small molecule CCR4 antagonist in development for the treatment of multiple cancers.

In August 2020, chairman and founder of Hanmi Pharmaceutical Lim Sung-ki died of a chronic disease. He was 80.[14]

On May 15, 2023, Athenex, which was Hanmi's U.S. partner for its anticancer product, Oraxol, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[15]

Controversies

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Employee insider trading scandal

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On the evening of September 29, 2016, Hanmi announced the Roche deal, causing its stock to rise; Hanmi was notified by Boehringer that evening that Boehringer was terminating their deal, and the company announced the termination on the morning of the 30th, causing its stock to crash. Hanmi's offices were raided by Korean regulatory authorities in mid-October based on evidence that insider knowledge of the Boehringer termination was passed to third parties, who shorted the stock prior to the announcement on the 30th.[1][16] In December three Hanmi employees were among 17 people indicted for insider trading; 25 people were fined, and 45 people were found to have made illegal trades that took around 3.3 billion won ($2.83 million) in profits based on the information.[17][18]

Olmutinib safety concerns

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On September 30, 2016, Korean regulatory authorities issued a safety alert about olmutinib in which it described two cases of toxic epidermal necrolysis, one of which was fatal, and a case of Stevens–Johnson syndrome; Boeheringer announced the termination its deal with Hanmi the same day, citing that the decision came after a review of "all available clinical data" on the drug, and also referring to competing drugs.[19]

In April 2018 Hanmi was found to have violated two laws in Korea by not disclosing adverse effects of olmutinib sooner.[20] In that month Zai said it was dropping olmutinib[21] and a few days later Hanmi said it was terminating development of the drug.[22]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Ji-young, Sohn (17 October 2016). "Hanmi Pharmaceutical raided over alleged info leak". The Korea Herald.
  2. ^ a b Dong-chan, Jhoo (20 May 2016). "Hanmi Pharmaceutical introduced first domestically developed lung cancer drug". The Korea Times.
  3. ^ a b "History". Hanmi Pharmaceutical. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Keenan, Joseph (April 14, 2016). "South Korea's Hanmi to spend $200M in China expansion". FiercePharma.
  5. ^ a b Kim, Marie (4 July 2016). "Hanmi Pharmaceutical to Step Up R&D Investment to Further Develop Core Technologies". BusinessKorea.
  6. ^ "Research programme: long-acting conjugate therapeutics - Hanmi Pharmaceutical". AdisInsight. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  7. ^ Garde, Damian (March 19, 2015). "Lilly inks a $690M deal to get its hands on an autoimmune drug". FierceBiotech.
  8. ^ a b Lane, EJ (November 10, 2015). "Janssen the latest Big Pharma to join Hanmi's South Korea deal machine". FiercePharma.
  9. ^ "Sanofi, Hanmi Ink Up-to-$4.2B Long-Acting Diabetes Drug Alliance". GEN -- Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. November 5, 2015.
  10. ^ Terry, Mark (September 30, 2016). "Deaths Lead Boehringer Ingelheim to Cancel 730 Million Cancer Deal With Hanmi Pharma Hanmi Stock Tanks". Biospace.
  11. ^ Taylor, Phil (September 30, 2016). "UPDATED: After patient fatality, Hanmi loses Boehringer, gains Roche in $800M-plus cancer-partner shuffle". FiercePharma.
  12. ^ Chan-ok, Shin (29 December 2016). "Hanmi Pharm downsizes license deal with Sanofi over diabetes drugs". Pulse News (in Korean).
  13. ^ Bitting, Angela (3 December 2019). "RAPT THERAPEUTICS AND HANMI PHARMACEUTICAL ANNOUNCE COLLABORATION TO DEVELOP AND COMMERCIALIZE FLX475 IN ASIA". Rapt Therapeutics.
  14. ^ "Hanmi Pharmaceutical chairman dies at 80". The Korea Times. 2020-08-03. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  15. ^ "Hanmi Pharm's US partner for anticancer drug files for bankruptcy". Korea Biomedical Review. May 16, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  16. ^ Taylor, Phil (October 7, 2016). "Smarting from failed Boehringer deal, Hanmi faces more pain from insider trading probe". FiercePharma.
  17. ^ Mi-jung, Bae; Tae-yang, Yoo (December 2, 2012). "Hanmi Pharm employees charged over insider trading". Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea (in Korean).
  18. ^ Ji-young, Sohn (14 December 2016). "Prosecution charges 17 over Hanmi Pharmaceutical disclosure case". The Korea Herald.
  19. ^ Carroll, John (October 1, 2016). "Following lethal tox report, Boehringer scraps plans for high-speed development, kills $730M Hanmi deal". Endpoints.
  20. ^ Adams, Ben (April 17, 2017). "Hanmi hit over failure to disclose olmutinib cancer trial side effect". FierceBiotech.
  21. ^ "Zai Lab returns China rights for olmutinib to Hanmi". BioWorld. April 11, 2018.
  22. ^ Taylor, Phil (April 13, 2018). "Hanmi calls time on troubled Tagrisso rival olmutinib". FierceBiotech.
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  • Official website
  • Business data for Hanmi Pharm:
  • Business data for Hanmi Science: