Daewoong Pharmaceutical's new Co-CEO Park Seong-soo, promoted from vice president, vowed to achieve 1 trillion won ($741.8 million) in operating profit under his leadership.

Park was appointed as the company's new co-CEO following a board meeting held on Thursday.

This strategic move transitions the company from the dual leadership of Co-CEO and President Lee Chang-jae and Jeon Seng-ho to a new era under Lee Chang-jae and Park Seong-soo.

Jeon, the outgoing co-CEO, is expected to lead Daewoong Investment and AffyXell Therapeutics, a cell and gene therapy development company co-founded by Daewoong and the UK biotech firm Avacta Group in 2020. This transition marks a new chapter in Daewoong Pharmaceutical's pursuit of innovation and global expansion.

Under this restructured leadership, the company stressed that Park will oversee global operations and R&D efforts, while Lee, who was appointed in 2022, will focus on domestic business and marketing.

Park Seong-soo, a seasoned executive within Daewoong, graduated from of Seoul National University's College of Pharmacy and joined Daewoong in 1999 after earning a Master's degree in Medicinal Chemistry.

Over the years, Park has been instrumental in spearheading development, approval, marketing, and global business efforts, significantly contributing to the company's innovation and expansion.

Before his appointment as co-CEO, Park had been a pivotal figure in Daewoong's foray into the U.S. market as the head of Daewoong America from 2011 and later led the Nabota business unit upon his return to Korea in 2015.

In 2021, he was promoted to Vice President, taking charge of the Nabota Division, Global Business Division, Bio R&D Division, and the Legal Affairs Department.

His strategy of achieving 1 trillion won in operating profit emphasizes maximizing the potential of new business opportunities, global expansion, and research and development efforts to reposition Daewoong as a high-profit, globally focused entity.

Park also outlined ambitious goals for Daewoong, including achieving 1 trillion won in sales for each of the company's three drugs – Nabota, Fexclue, and Envlo --, transforming into a specialized drug development company, and boosting the company's corporate value to 20 trillion won.

Park stressed the importance of shifting the product structure towards high-profit blockbusters through focused R&D and global business efforts, citing limitations in growth if relying solely on domestic business.

"To this end, we are working on developing new candidates, such as Verisporcin, a pioneering drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, as promising successors to Nabota," Park said. "For drug discovery, we will focus on three core disease groups, and we will upgrade our processes to achieve top 20 global drug discovery capabilities in these areas."

To achieve this, the strategy is to strengthen open collaboration (C&D) capabilities and global expert collaboration, Park added.

In the biopharmaceutical field, Park stressed that the company plans to focus on diabetes, obesity, infections, orthopedics, neuropsychiatry, stem cells, and over-the-counter drugs.

"Through such efforts, Daewoong will grow its market capitalization to 5 trillion won in three years and 20 trillion won in 10 years," Park said.

Daewoong's market capitalization as of Friday is currently about 1.4 trillion won.