[Herald Interview] Merck ready to join Korea’s display, biopharma drive

Merck, the world’s leading chemical and pharmaceuticals giant, is ready to do its part in driving forward Korea’s advancing display business as well as the fast-developing biopharmaceuticals industry -- areas forecast for rapid growth in the future.

Michael Grund, managing director of Merck Korea, said the German firm is prepared to become a reliable partner to its major clients like Samsung and LG which are seeking to remain ahead of the game in the highly-competitive display business and pave new growth in biopharmaceutical development.

“For Merck, Korea is a strategic country -- a lab of the future. We expect that some of the solutions of the future may be developed here,” Grund said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald.

“And we would like to do our share in developing those solutions by becoming reliable suppliers to major Korean companies in the materials and life sciences industries,” he said.

Merck, a major supplier of performance materials to big Korean display makers including Samsung and LG, foresees significant industry changes in the years to come -- particularly the rise of the organic light-emitting diode, or OLED business.

OLED displays are vastly different from the liquid crystal displays, or LCDs, that are widely used today. Unlike LCDs which create colors by lighting up small liquid crystals, OLEDs require no backlight and can be made into flexible and bendable products.

“The future of the display industry is unclear. But what’s clear is that Korean display makers are facing more competition from neighboring countries. And as they are thinking about how to position themselves, we also have to be prepared to support them,” he said.

Due to technical challenges and high manufacturing costs, most global display makers have been hesitant to pursue OLED development. Currently, only LG Display and LG Electronics manufacture OLED TVs while rival Samsung Electronics uses OLEDs in small-sized devices such as smartphones.

Innovation and strategic planning have never been more important for Korean display makers than today, when their counterparts in China and other Asian countries are catching up at a rapid pace, according to the Merck executive.

Korean companies must “break away from their traditional roles as “fast followers and decide their own future ways” in order to remain viable as industry leaders, he said.

In a bid to spur the development of new display technology as well as better prepare itself for anticipated client needs, Merck operates two OLED R&D facilities in Korea -- the OLED Application Development Laboratory and the recently-opened OLED Application Center in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.

“Liquid crystals and OLEDs are extremely complex structures produced through collaboration between multiple actors. The application center is like a tailor shop where R&D, production and clients can come together to produce and test out new performance materials for the future,” Grund said.

The new center features a range of equipment for OLED evaporation testing and reliability analysis and is set to introduce a number of other OLED processes such as inkjet printing in the years to come, according to Merck.

Meanwhile, Merck is seeking to become yet another reliable partner to up-and-coming Korean biopharmaceutical firms which are looking to increase their global presence in the burgeoning field of biotech medicine.

Merck Millipore, the company’s life sciences division, currently supplies base materials used in biologics production, laboratory systems and equipment as well as manufacturing support and training services to Samsung BioLogics, the conglomerate’s biotech unit, and Celltrion, a leading developer of biosimilars -- lower-cost copies of brand-name biologic drugs that have lost patent protection.

“Like in the materials sector, Korean biopharma developers need reliable partners who can deliver top-quality materials and services to help them successfully develop and commercialize their biologic drugs globally,” the Merck Korea head said.

“For us, helping means that we are not simply selling our equipment and materials, but also delivering key training services and marketing support to help our clients work faster and more cost effectively.”

Merck, in partnership with local biopharma company Genexine, opened the Biomanufacturing Sciences & Training Center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, in 2012 to more efficiently help Korean biopharma firms with key tasks like managing manufacturing processes and preparing newly-developed drugs for successful entry into overseas markets.

“Though the OLED application center is Merck’s biggest visible investment in Korea right now, I think we will see expanded investments in the life sciences sector here in the near future,” Grund said.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)