inVentiv Health, the US-based provider of clinical development, commercialisation and consulting services that recently entered the upper ranks of global contract research organisations by acquiring PharmaNet Development Group, has set up an operation in Seoul, South Korea to offer clinical development and commercial services to healthcare clients.
inVentiv Health Korea is already supplying clinical development services to a number of pharmaceutical clients through its clinical segment, PharmaNet/i3, the US parent noted.
The new operation in Seoul will also deliver outsourced sales services through the company’s Selling Solutions segment. inVentiv recently signed an agreement with a top 20 pharmaceutical multinational to provide medical representatives who will promote several of the company’s products in Korea, it said.
“Our clients are expanding their businesses in Asia and as they do, inVentiv is broadening its geographic reach to meet their outsourcing needs,” commented chief executive officer Paul Meister, adding that the US$15 billion pharmaceutical market in Korea is expected to “grow by significant margins over the next several years”.
Not only are pharmaceutical clients conducting clinical research increasingly in Korea, but it is “a market where many leading pharmaceutical brands in the US will be launching in the coming years, creating a growing need for outsourced sales and marketing support”, Meister observed.
inVentiv Health Korea will be led by Jae-Hee Kim as president of the Seoul operation. Kim was previously a representative director at Enters Partners Co. Ltd., a marketing and consulting company serving the pharmaceutical industry.
Before that, he held senior-level positions at Korean Green Cross Corporation, SmithKline Beecham and Quintiles Transnational.
