Eli Lilly’s Korea chief said some new medicines could risk not launching in Korea unless the country moves faster to shift spending from older drugs to innovative treatments.
John Bickel, general manager of Lilly Korea, made the comments Friday after the company’s 150th anniversary media event in Seoul, where Lilly laid out a larger Korea push that includes clinical trials, venture scouting and a planned biotech incubator with Samsung Biologics.
The message was clear: Lilly likes Korea’s science. But the market is still hard.
“I think Korea has some of the lowest spending per GDP on innovative products,” Bickel told Korea Biomedical Review in an interview after the event. “Some of the highest spend on older outdated products. I think that’s backward.”
Bickel, who joined Lilly Korea in July 2024 after more than five years as chief marketing officer at Lilly Japan, said Japan faced a similar problem 15 to 20 years ago but moved to cut prices on older drugs and encourage generic use so newer medicines could be funded.
“Korea needs to continue to accelerate those efforts,” Bickel said, “where today, particularly with global pricing dynamics, some newer products risk not being launched and not being made available to people in Korea.”
John Bickel, general manager of Lilly Korea, speaks at the company’s Seoul headquarters on Friday during a media event marking Eli Lilly’s 150th anniversary. (Credit: Korea Biomedical Review)
The risk is not confined to Korea. A low launch price in one developed market can affect negotiations elsewhere, giving drugmakers a reason to hold back from countries where pricing could weaken a product globally.
For Korean patients, the issue is more direct. Regulatory approval does not always mean broad access. New drugs often still need to pass reimbursement review and price talks before they can be widely used under the national health insurance system.
Bickel brought that concern into the open during the public Q&A, where all questions were directed to him.
“Korea tends to be a country that is one of the more difficult countries for drug approvals as well as pricing,” Bickel said.
Korea has begun trying to change that. A drug-pricing overhaul approved this year, after being outlined late last year, is meant to speed coverage for some new medicines while lowering prices for generics and patent-expired drugs.
Bickel said those steps are going “in the right direction,” but the larger shift is still unfinished.
“Shifting costs from older outdated products to new innovation is the way to ensure that people in Korea have access to the latest products that are available,” he said in our interview.
The warning comes as Lilly is expanding the part of its Korea business that depends on the country’s research base.
Lilly Korea entered the market in 1982. It now has about 250 employees and is running 64 clinical trials involving 26 drug candidates, its largest local clinical-trial footprint to date, according to the company. Its domestic sales ranking has also climbed from No. 39 in 2022 to No. 17 in 2025.
Bickel said Korea’s clinical infrastructure is one reason Lilly sees more room to invest.
“Historically, you see this country is one of the highest ranked countries for clinical trials globally,” he said. “That expertise in world-class medical centers, expertise in diagnostics, makes this an attractive place to do clinical trials and continue to do research.”
He also pointed to Korea’s startups as part of the draw.
“You also see a number of startups in early development that we think can be attractive for future investment,” he said. “Our venture capital group continues to look locally at companies.”
Lilly’s planned Gateway Labs site in Korea is the clearest sign of that startup push. Built with Samsung Biologics in Songdo, Incheon, the incubator is expected to open in 2027 with space for up to 30 Korean biotechs.
Bickel said the Korea site will be Lilly’s second overseas Gateway Labs location after China and its first built through a partnership model.
Lilly will bring drug-development experience and scientific mentoring, while Samsung Biologics will add development and manufacturing expertise.
Resident companies will also be able to use Lilly’s AI platform, Tune Labs, which draws on Lilly’s clinical pipeline and internal asset databases to help assess drug candidates, Bickel said.
The Samsung project fits Korea’s broader ambition to become a top biopharma country. But Bickel said that ambition will depend on more than research space, manufacturing capacity or startup activity.
“If the country is really serious about becoming a top biopharma country globally,” he said, encouraging more spending on innovative products is “an important direction.”
Lilly has already moved money toward Korea. Bickel said the company signed deals with Korean biotech companies last year with a total potential value of more than $4.5 billion.
Lilly has also announced plans to invest $500 million in Korea over five years under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW)
Kim Ji-hye
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