
SAN FRANCISCO -- Heirs to Korea’s leading conglomerates stepped onto the global biopharma stage at this year’s JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, highlighting their ambitions in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.
At the conference held Monday through Thursday in San Francisco, key figures including Seo Jin-seok of Celltrion, Shin Yoo-yeol of Lotte Biologics, and Chey Yoon-chung of SK Biopharmaceuticals, underscored their companies’ commitment to future growth by building connections with partners from around the world.
“The participation of second and third-generation conglomerate leaders in such global conferences and meetings provides significant reassurance to potential investors, thereby bolstering their companies’ business prospects,” said an industry insider who attended the event.
“However, the biotech sector demands far more than sales and marketing expertise; It requires in-depth knowledge, making the entry barriers high and time-consuming.”
Celltrion CEO Seo, the eldest son of Celltrion Group Founder and Chairman Seo Jung-jin, took the spotlight Tuesday by presenting a development timeline for the company’s new drug pipelines. This marked his second presentation at the conference, following his debut at last year’s event.
Holding a Ph.D. in biotechnology from KAIST, Seo detailed Celltrion’s strategy to expand beyond its core biosimilar business, emphasizing its commitment to becoming a global leader in new drug development. His presentation was followed by Seo Jung-jin's Q&A session, where the chairman directly engaged with investors.
Shin Yoo-yeol, the eldest son of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, attended the conference for the first time this year.
In addition to his role as Lotte Corporation's executive vice president, Shin serves as head of global strategy for Lotte Biologics.
During the first two days of the event, Shin reportedly attended keynote presentations by global pharmaceutical leaders such as Roche and Johnson & Johnson before returning to Korea. He traveled directly to San Francisco for the health care conference after a stop at CES 2025 in Las Vegas.
“After attending the presentations, Shin participated in numerous key investor and client meetings, alongside newly appointed Lotte Biologics CEO James Park,” a Lotte Biologics official said.
Chey Yoon-chung, the eldest daughter of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and head of business development at SK Biopharmaceuticals, was promoted to vice president in the group’s 2023 year-end executive reshuffle, making her the youngest executive within SK Group.
While she did not publicly appear at the conference, Choi reportedly concentrated on individual business meetings throughout the event.
By Kim Hae-yeon (hykim@heraldcorp.com)