One and a half year have passed since Amgen, a role model for Korean bio and pharmaceutical companies, opened a local branch. Amgen Korea has since seen the number of employees grow from 10 to 60 and the release of four new drugs.

It is unusual for a pharmaceutical company to put four new drugs to the market in just one year. Not only is the development of new drugs is difficult, but complicated procedures lie ahead of drug makers to sell them, such as winning approvals and registering them for insurance benefits. Then they have to undergo sales and marketing process in which only the fittest survive. All this explains why pharmaceutical firms focus on a few products a year.

And that makes it all the more unusual that Amgen Korea has released four new drugs less than two years of its opening.

Unlike other multinational pharmaceuticals that have cooperated with Korean partners to promote their products in their early stages of operation here, Amgen Korea says it would directly sell all of its products. Amgen Korea CEO Rho Sang-kyung, a sales and marketing expert, based on more than three decades of service at multinational pharmaceutical companies, including Roche Korea, says, “It is people that make a work done.” The Korea Bio Medical Business Review met Rho to hear his plans.

Question: What are Amgen Korea’s significant accomplishments since its opening?

Answer: I think the biggest outcome was to set up the organization with talented people from all related fields. We also have released four new products -- Kyprolis for multiple myeloma therapy in May 2016, Blincyto for acute lymphoblastic leukemia therapy in June 2016, and Prolia and Xgeva for target osteoporosis treatment in November 2016. We received insurance benefits for Blincyto nine months after winning approval, a record short period for an anti-cancer treatment. That reflected regulators’ recognition of our company and its products.

Q: What are noteworthy products of Amgen Korea this year?

A: I would like to cite Prolia. Because of rapid population aging, the number of people who needs osteoporosis therapy will also likely grow, too. We will make efforts to make Prolia get insurance coverage as soon as possible, and actively conduct its marketing.

Q: Amgen Korea has many drugs requiring insurance coverage. Is there any strategy to set reasonable drug prices for the coverage? What are problems in the Korea’s drug price system if any, as you see it?

A: We are trying to persuade government officials to recognize innovative drugs’ value. Korea’ drug prices are very low, accounting for just 43 percent of the OECD average. It is positive, however, the Korean government acknowledges the prices are relatively low. And it also understands pharmaceutical companies are spending much time and money on research and development. It was hard to predict how the officials set the prices, but the processes have become quite transparent now, making prediction possible. Our headquarter office highly evaluate the overall ability and standards of Korea’s pharmaceutical industry and related agencies, including the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA). I have often heard that the questions asked by Korean officials are much higher than their foreign counterparts.

Q: Amgen Korea is now embroiled in a patent dispute with Sanofi over a new drug of new mechanism - PCSK9 inhibitor, proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9, for hyperlipidemia therapy in the United States. New drugs related to it have won approvals in Korea. What is your position on the ongoing dispute?

A: Recently, Praluent has obtained approval in Korea, but a patent lawsuit is underway in America. I can’t say anything as the conclusion has yet to come. We are keeping a close watch on it. The PCSK9 drug of Amgen Korea submitted its documents for approval last year, and the processes are in full swing.

Q: Amgen, along with Gilead, are cited as two successful examples of growing into global corporations through research and development. The two companies also appear to go the similar path in Korea.

A: I am rather cautious to compare Amgen with other companies, but the two companies have different business models. Gilead has made a local pharmaceutical company do marketing for its products through a partnership with Korean firms, while Amgen Korea is doing everything on its own, ranging from marketing to sales and distribution. But business collaboration with domestic partners can be an option depending on the situation in the future.

Q: Why does Amgen Korea prefer direct marketing to outsourcing?

A: As we entered the Korean market for the first time, we also considered making partnership relationships with local firms. There may be advantages and disadvantages in direct marketing, but I thought it better for the staff members of Amgen Korea to release and introduce their products to the market directly and independently. That may increase initial investment, but the business model will help our business grow in the long run.

Q: What are your objectives this year? As the CEO, you must be under lots of pressure to produce results, particularly given considerable initial investment.

A: It’s true I am under pressure because they assess managers based on short-term results. Last year, we made the investment as expected and performed slightly better than initial aims. I don’t want to focus on a year but discuss the matter in the longer run. I am going impatient because Amgen Korea is laying the solid foundation for its future. Usually, it takes a few years to make profits after a company releases new products.

Amgen Korea has just released new products, and our sales records remain small as we have yet to receive insurance benefits for Kyprolis and Prolia. It 's hard to make profits for the time being because about 60 employees are being engaged in 33 global clinical trials. However, this business model has come from sufficient discussion with our global networks, and I think it will prove to be positive from a long-term aspect.

Q: When will your company’s bottom line be able to turn around to black-ink figures?

A: We are trying to make profits in five years. Given that we have entered osteoporosis therapy market and also have new pipelines to be released in the coming days, product portfolio will be more diverse in 10 years.

Q: Is there any difficulty communicating with the headquarter office about some issues such as drug price?

A: If we lower drug prices a little, it would reduce the barriers to patients’ access to treatment and benefit a larger number of patients. For example, it’s more reasonable to provide benefits to 10,000 patients than to 100 patients. When pharmaceutical firms develop drugs, they have to keep that in mind.

We are persuading the headquarter office that Amgen Korea needs to provide many medicines for more Korean patients. As I said before, we can predict drug prices in the processes of applying for and reviewing them. We make use of the prediction to convince the office.

Q: Pharmaceutical companies are undergoing an era of change. Marketing environment has also modified by the implementation of anti-corruption Kim Young-ran Act and strengthened rules for fair competition. Does Amgen have countermeasures for these changes? And how do you want people to remember your company?

A: First of all, pharmaceutical firms need to enhance the expertise of sales people. Not just multinationals but domestic companies will be creating a business environment to make sales people deal with a few drugs in depth rather than selling many drugs. The trend will become even more widespread. In addition to the existing sales activity where sales people meet medical staffs in person and explain their products, they will use digital marketing as their additional tool. Finally, drug makers will focus more on diseases than their products, which results in increasing medical division’s capability.

Most people think Amgen specializes in developing anti-cancer drugs. But I hope people recognize Amgen as a biotechnology firm that has ability and advantage in the science area, including biology. Because it is only recently that Amgen Korea started its business, the company has some rooms to be desired now. In the future, however, the company will make utmost efforts to win recognition for its innovative ability and value, and seriously consider cooperating with other companies.