South Korean biotech firms secure government R&D funding

South Korean biotech and life science companies have secured significant government funding through programs hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.

Pulse in Myers has been selected for the ‘2026 Pharmaceutical and Bio-Venture Collaborative Technology Development Project’ in the joint drug pipeline development category. The company will receive 3 billion KRW in additional R&D support to accelerate the development and commercialization of ‘Pearl-101’, a subcutaneous formulation targeting refractory solid tumor patients with resistance to existing therapies. Pulse in Myers is collaborating with Huons in a consortium to achieve this goal, aiming to complete Phase 1 clinical trial IND submissions.

Separately, J&P Medi, an AI-based life science R&D platform company, has been selected for the ‘Global TIPS’ program. The company has secured a total of 6.2 billion KRW in project costs through June 2030, including 5 billion KRW in government support. J&P Medi plans to develop an ‘AI-based Clinical OS’ designed to integrate clinical trial data, documentation, regulatory information, and operational tasks into a single, automated environment to support the entire clinical trial lifecycle.