Chong Kung Dang, a local pharmaceutical firm, beat multinational rivals by winning approval for clinical trials the most in the first half. Clinical research is one of the measures to gauge a drug firm’s capability to develop new medicines.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, Chong Kun Dang obtained approval for 11 clinical trials, the most among all pharmaceutical companies operating in Korea in the first six months this year.

The company received the nod for 30 studies in 2015, becoming the first local drugmaker to outperform multinational pharmaceuticals in clinical research.

Pfizer Korea topped the list with 46 trials in 2012, Novartis Korea with 28 in 2013, and Novartis Korea with 26 in 2014.

Since Chong Kun Dang’s ranking No.1 in 2015, local companies started to take the first place. In 2016, it was Daewoong Pharmaceutical getting approval for 17 trials.

However, multinationals were still active in phase-3 trials this year.

In phase-3 trials alone, Lilly Korea ranked first in the number of approved trials by winning okays for five studies. Celgene Korea, Abbvie Korea, and MSD Korea ranked second with four tests each. Sanofi-Aventis Korea, AstraZeneca Korea, and Ono Pharma Korea came in third with two.

Among domestic drug companies, Chong Kun Dang, Medytox, Il-yang Pharmaceutical, and Yooyoung Pharmaceutical recorded two approved phase-3 trials.

"The number of clinical trial approvals is important because we can assess the company’s investment in drug development,” said an official at a local drugmaker. “In this sense, domestic companies are putting more efforts in research and development than before.”

Rather than looking at the number of trials approved, it is better to observe the clinical stage or pipelines more specifically, the official added.