Multinational drug firms top list of approvals for clinical trials

Multinational pharmaceutical companies have topped the list in winning approvals from South Korea's drug regulatory agency for clinical trials this year, data showed Monday.

According to the data by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, four major global drug manufacturers have won a combined 42 clinical trials during the first half of 2017.

Gilead Sciences Korea, the local unit of Gilead Sciences, won the approval of 13 clinical trials, followed by Novatis Korea with 11, Roche Korea with nine and MSD Korea with nine.

Industry officials attributed the global firms winning most of clinical trials to weaker research and development spending by local players.

Two drug firms -- Hanmi Pharmaceutical and Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical -- were the only two local South Korean companies topping the list by winning seven clinical trials each in the January-June period, the latest data showed. (Yonhap)