The year 2024 has been a turbulent one for the healthcare industry, marked by ongoing conflicts between the medical community and the government over a policy to increase medical school admission quotas by 2,000. Tensions escalated further with the Dec. 3 martial law debacle. Many sectors within the healthcare industry faced significant challenges, with some reporting their worst year on record. Here, we highlight the top 10 healthcare news stories that defined this year. -- Ed.

Hanmi Pharm has faced a year-long management dispute, but with the year’s end, a mood of reconciliation has emerged, signaling that the conflict over management control is likely to resolve in 2025.

On Jan. 12, 2024, Hanmi Pharm and OCI Group announced their planned integration. The "mother-daughter faction," led by Hanmi Science Chairwoman Song Young-sook and Vice Chairwoman Lim Ju-hyun, argued that the move was aimed at securing the company’s future growth. However, Hanmi Science Director Lim Jong-yoon and CEO Lim Jong-hoon opposed the plan, claiming it was an attempt to sell management rights to resolve inheritance tax issues.

Following this, Chairwoman Song named Vice Chairwoman Lim as her successor and appealed for shareholder support, while the Lim brothers declared their intent to safeguard Hanmi's legacy by re-engaging in management.

At Hanmi Science's annual general meeting on March 28, the brothers succeeded in their bid to return to management, with their proposed slate of directors being approved while Hanmi Science’s proposals were rejected. This led to the cancellation of the OCI Group integration plan.

In May, at an extraordinary general meeting of Hanmi Science, the brothers removed Song from her position and appointed Lim Jong-hoon as the sole CEO. In response, on July 3, the mother-daughter faction formed a three-party alliance by entering a joint voting rights agreement with Shin Dong-guk, Chairman of Hanyang Precision.

On Nov. 28, during another extraordinary general meeting, a proposal to amend the company’s articles of incorporation to expand the board was rejected, but Chairman Shin’s appointment to the board was approved. On Dec. 19, at Hanmi Pharm’s extraordinary general meeting, the brothers' proposal to remove CEO Park Jae-hyun was defeated, with the four-party alliance (Shin Dong-guk, Song Young-sook, Lim Ju-hyun, and La Défense Partners) successfully maintaining control.

A dramatic shift occurred when the largest shareholder of Hanmi Science, the holding company of Hanmi Pharm, expressed a desire to reconcile, paving the way to end the management dispute. 

On Dec. 26, the four-party alliance announced they had purchased 5 percent of shares held by Lim Jong-yoon, a shareholder and inside director at Hanmi Science, and reached an agreement to end the conflict, stabilize the company’s governance, and establish a sustainable management system led by professional managers.

A representative of the largest shareholder side commented, “This agreement is expected to quickly stabilize the group’s governance and resolve the overhang issue that has long suppressed shareholder value.” 

As a first step toward cooperation, the four-party alliance and Lim Jong-yoon also agreed to drop all criminal and civil lawsuits filed against each other.