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Korean biohealth · pipeline of people · Aug 2026
Every phase of a drug
hires different people
46,050 people on Korea's national pension register in Aug 2026, at the 53 Korean pharma, biotech, CDMO, CRO and medtech companies Banseog follows, laid on the drug development pipeline by kind of employer. Read it before you license from, manufacture with, compete with or build a team in Korea.
46,050 on the pension register, Aug 2026+979 (+2.2%) over 11 months, transfers excluded68 Korean and benchmark company files
Source · National Pension Service workplace register (data.go.kr) ↗ · Monthly register, read every week
The Korean market outside job boards
Pharma, biotech and medical-device requests seen outside public job boards, counted each week by role and level. One square is one week; green is the latest. The same role seen more than once counts each time.
3,003requests · week of 26 Oct 2026
We looked further down each list from this week (up to 800 entries), so this count includes requests that were already open.
Observed requests · cells under five hidden · no company named · no forecast
Partner with Korea
What Korean biohealth is building, and who to build it with
Korean companies already moving into the US, and the platforms and manufacturing partners behind them, with each Korean company's people on the national pension register.
Korean biopharma is already in your market
Recent, sourced moves by companies we analyse. Each links to the full company file.
- Samsung Biologics — The company timeline records completion of the Rockville manufacturing facility acquisition. File →
- Alteogen — Announced an option and license agreement with Novartis for multiple subcutaneous products. File →
- SK Biopharmaceuticals — In its May 7 release, said it completed the US FDA NDA submission for cenobamate suspension in March. File →
- LigaChem Biosciences — On August 27, reported US FDA Fast Track designation for SOT106 in soft tissue sarcoma, without specifying the designation date. First-in-human testing was planned for that year. File →
The Korean companies US partners ask about
Banseog's files on the Korean names that license to, manufacture for, or compete with US companies. The figure on a Korean file is its people on Korea's national pension register.
Manufacturing partners (CDMO & biosimilars)
Licensing partners (platforms & ADCs)
Established Korean pharma
US benchmarks we trackthe standards Korean companies measure themselves against
Figures on Korean files: people on the national pension register in Aug 2026 and their change over 11 months, transfers excluded. Source · National Pension Service workplace register (data.go.kr) ↗
Build a team in Korea
The pipeline of people: who employs each phase of development
Each phase of a drug needs different people. Each line is a kind of Korean employer, laid on the phases it works in. Its thickness is its people on Korea's national pension register in Aug 2026; the number is their change over 11 months.
- Discovery Biotech+248Medtech & diagnostics−28
- Preclinical Biotech+248CRO+7Pharma+10Medtech & diagnostics−28
- Phase 1 Biotech+248CRO+7Pharma+10CDMO & bioprocess+742Medtech & diagnostics−28
- Phase 2 Biotech+248CRO+7Pharma+10CDMO & bioprocess+742Medtech & diagnostics−28
- Phase 3 CRO+7Pharma+10CDMO & bioprocess+742Medtech & diagnostics−28
- Approval CRO+7Pharma+10CDMO & bioprocess+742Medtech & diagnostics−28
- Launch Pharma+10CDMO & bioprocess+742Medtech & diagnostics−28
Medical reps, product managers, export sales and sales planning, after approval.
Open the guide →Hiring guideR&D and CMCDiscovery, non-clinical, process development and CMC.
Open the guide →Hiring guideQuality, RA & clinicalQA, QC, validation, regulatory affairs and clinical, from Phase 1 to approval.
Open the guide →Hiring guideBusiness & support rolesFinance, HR, legal, IP and business development, where people join from other industries.
Open the guide →National Pension Service members, Aug 2026 · 53 employers · thickness = members · number = 11-month change, transfers in (mergers, new registrations, bulk transfers) taken out · bar span = the phases each employer type works in (editorial) · Source: National Pension Service workplace register (data.go.kr)
Hiring in Korea: where the people already work
For a US company building a Korean team: the people at the 53 Korean companies Banseog follows, by kind of employer and the phases each kind works in. Members on Korea's national pension register in Aug 2026. The change compares Sept 2025 → Aug 2026 (11 months) at the 53 companies with the full series; transfers in, such as mergers and new registrations, are left out.
Phase spans are editorial: the phases each kind of employer works in. Source · National Pension Service workplace register (data.go.kr) ↗
BANSEOG COLUMNS
BioHealth columns
Banseog columns on how pharma and biotech companies change their organisations and people. All columns →
Separate access to a 350,000-member employer plan and a 74-million-member discount program describes routes to market—not patients secured.
Banseog column · 2026-10-24When Delivery Drivers Were Absent, KSK's Salespeople Delivered Medicine. Hitachi Tested a 60% Reduction in Cover Work.It kept familiar routes and reallocated only the deliveries disrupted by absences—a different answer to an apparent staffing shortage.
Banseog column · 2026-10-20Roche Licensed One ADC From Hansoh. A Year Later, It Contracted for the Next Ones.The strategic change is a repeatable early-development arrangement—not simply the headline of over $15 billion in contingent milestones.
Banseog column · 2026-10-16SK bioscience Required Fluent English in May. Why Is It Missing From Its October Graduate Posting?That is a meaningful difference in postings—not proof that SK bioscience has eliminated its hiring standards.
Banseog column · 2026-10-12Samsung Biologics Brought Fluid Dynamics Into ADC Manufacturing. Can a Bigger Reactor Make the Same Drug?A separate 2023 KIT–AstraZeneca study found strikingly different reactor mixing times but limited final DAR changes under its conditions.
Banseog column · 2026-10-10Why Is GSK Putting a Pilot Plant, QC Lab and MSAT Hub Into an $800M-Plus Factory?GSK's new Upper Merion plan pairs commercial biologics manufacturing with R&D pilot production, centralized quality control and MSAT.
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