Dr. Young Hwan Park joins Daewoong’s recently formed Drug Discovery Research Institute On February 1st Daewoong Pharmaceutical established the Drug Discovery Research Institute whose goal is to make advancements in developing new global medicines.

Dr. Young Hwan Park, formerly of Merck Research Institute, has joined as Head of the Drug Discovery Research Institute.
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Dr. Young Hwan Park received his doctorate from Rutgers University (New Jersey, USA) and completed this post-doctorate research at the University of California Berkeley. He joined Merck Research Institute in 1994 and contributed to the advancement in numerous research areas including: molecular biology, microbiology, enzymology, and crystallography. He entered Merck as a senior research chemist and earned a position as a senior research fellow within 9 years. 

While at Merck Dr. Park was especially involved in the study of infectious and contagious diseases. He is credited for his research in protein segregation and the development of various treatments and screening processes while also creating networks within the company working cooperatively to develop new products. Dr. Park is expected to provide his expertise and lead the team in the development of upgraded products for the global market.

As of January 2009, Daewoong Pharmaceutical has 183 researchers. 7% of the total sales from 2008 (38 billion KRW) were invested back into R&D and 50 billion KRW is expected to be devoted to R&D in 2009.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical currently has a total of 19 new products in the pipelines which include: 7 synthesized drugs, 2 natural substance drugs, 5 biotechnology products, and 5 epidermal growth factor products. In addition research on generics, compound formulations, and improvements to current products on the market are in the works; a total of 60 research projects are currently being conducted.