Samsung Pharm drops hotel business

Samsung Pharm said it would withdraw its hotel business, which it started in 2020. Instead, the company said it would sell the land, planned for hotel construction to secure financial liquidity.

The company sold the land to GemVax Zio, a subsidiary of GemVax & KAEL.

In a public filing on Thursday, Samsung Pharm said it would withdraw from the hotel business one and a half years after it announced its entry into the business.

Samsung Pharm said it aimed to secure cash flow by selling a hotel site in Osong, North Chuncheong Province, and focus its capacity on its original business, new drug development.

The company also announced the disposal of tangible assets (land and buildings), explaining that it would sell a site in Osong to GemVax Zio.

The disposal amount is 17.3 billion won ($14.6 million), which accounts for 9.68 percent of Samsung Pharm’s total assets as of 2020.

Earlier on June 15, 2020, Samsung Pharm said it would start a hotel business to maximize the utilization of its assets. The company was expected to invest about 40 billion won.

At the time, Samsung signed a hotel business contract with Hyatt and said it would use its land in the Osong Industrial Complex.

The company had planned to launch Hyatt Place, one of the Hyatt brands, in Korea and earn revenues from a business hotel near the high-tech healthcare and life science complex.

Samsung Pharm had also planned to establish a biotech conference center to make the site a landmark in Osong.

The company had scheduled to open a hotel three years after the contract.

However, Samsung Pharm decided to drop the plan altogether.

The company is seeking approval for Riavax (GV1001) to treat pancreatic cancer. It also aims to expand its indication to Alzheimer's disease and prostatic hyperplasia.

Samsung Pharm had its conditional license of Riavax revoked last year because it failed to submit a clinical result report.

The company is ready to release study results before applying for approval.

It is in the final stage of drug administration in the phase 3 trial for prostatic hyperplasia treatment. In addition, the company said it has applied for a phase 3 study of the drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease.