(31 May 2022) Amgen Korea (GM: Sang-kyung Noh) and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute(KHIDI) (President: Soon-Man Kwon) jointly sponsor the Pitching Day project on Friday, September 2nd for biopharmaceutical companies in Korea. Application submission is open online till 13th July on the official website.

This year marks the first year of “Pitching Day”, which is hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and jointly sponsored by Amgen Korea and the KHIDI. It is designed to discover biopharmaceutical companies in Korea who are equipped with innovative technologies and capabilities, and give winners a chance to form R&D mentorship relations with biotechnology leader Amgen along with the prize money.

Eligible categories for application for Pitching Day are Drug Discovery and Emerging Technology. Biopharmaceutical companies or research institutes in Korea that are interested can choose one category and submit an application with introductory description of their proprietary breakthrough technologies and capabilities. The KHIDI (1st round) and Amgen Korea (2nd round) will review the applications to select 8 biopharmaceutical companies or research institutes. Selected companies or institutes will be granted a chance to participate in the pitching event where they can present what they can offer technologically.

Top 3 winners at the pitching event, which is expected to be held on Friday, September 2nd, 2022, will be granted a total of 80 million won in the prize money. The first place winner, in particular, will have a chance to form mentorship relations with global Amgen R&D as a special privilege along with the prize money.

Sooa Kim, Medical Director, Amgen Korea, said, “Amgen never loses sight of the importance of emerging technologies and continued investments, which has given us a leg-up to be a global biotechnology leader. R&D networking rooted in achievements in science, in particular, is the key driving force for Amgen to be equipped with strong pipeline. The Pitching Day project jointly sponsored by Amgen Korea and the KHIDI marks a meaningful occasion to showcase that Open Innovation is not just a chant but one of the core values at Amgen. We are especially looking forward to the mentorship opportunity to be given to the Pitching Day winner as a special privilege serving as a priming water for domestic biopharmaceutical companies and research institutes to be an important player in the global healthcare industry.”

Yong-Woo Kim, Lead of Biopharmaceutical Industry Team, Industrial Promotion Headquarters at KHIDI said, “It is really relevant and significant that we can work with Amgen Korea 2 years in a row to give biopharmaceutical companies in Korea new opportunities. As the biopharmaceutical industry is the industry for the future that has been powered by open collaboration, we hope that Pitching Day jointly sponsored by Amgen Korea and the KHIDI can be a chance for biopharmaceutical companies and research institutes in Korea with great growth potential to network with global biotechnology leader Amgen and take one step closer towards the goal of development of breakthrough drugs.”

On top of the Pitching Day project, Amgen Korea and the KHIDI will also jointly host the Bio Day Science Program in November for domestic biopharmaceutical companies to get introduced to science and technology at Amgen and have a networking opportunity, as part of efforts to continue productive engagement and exchange with each other for growth of the local pharmaceutical industry.

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