Foreign Investment In Sth Korean Pharma Markets

South Korea has seen pharmaceutical sales expanding, reaching the equivalent in 1992 of 1.6% of the global market (compared with 3.3% of the UK and 2.3% of Canada). Its value in 1993 was $2.5 billion, making South Korea the 10th largest pharmaceutical industry in the world, according to a new report from Datamonitor, entitled Opportunities in Asian Pharmaceutical Markets.

At the beginning of 1994 there were 41 foreign companies involved in South Korean pharmaceutical operations. And firms already there are in negotiations with local companies, as the economy is now fully deregulated and foreign investors can hold 100% of local concerns.

Of the companies with bases in the country, 12 are US firms, 11 Japanese, five German, three from the Netherlands, two French and a further eight from other countries, the Datamonitor report notes.