This year’s event marks the 40th anniversary since its inaugural gathering in 1986. According to the organizers, more than 1,700 companies and institutions from 40 countries and regions worldwide will participate, with over 26,000 business meetings and approximately 200 seminars and presentations scheduled to take place. In addition to exhibiting companies, pharmaceutical firms, biotech companies, research institutions, and investment firms have registered in the partnering system to discuss technology adoption, joint development, and investment opportunities.
The event will feature concurrent sessions including “Bio Japan,” which focuses on new drug development and biopharmaceuticals, as well as “Regenerative Medicine Japan” and “HealthTech Japan.” It is considered a highly valuable platform for Korean companies, not only for its exhibitions and seminars but also as a business development (BD) stage where one-on-one consultations, licensing, and joint development discussions take center stage. For Korean biotech companies preparing to enter the global market, it serves as a gateway to meet local Japanese pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and research institutions while also seeking business partners across Asia.
Accordingly, major domestic pharmaceutical CDMOs—such as SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS(207940), and Lotte Biologics—are expanding their customer reach in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market, including Japan, at the event. SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS, which has participated in the event for four consecutive years since 2023, is operating its own booth. The company is seeking to secure new clients by highlighting its integrated CDMO services—which bridge research, development, and production—and its production capacity of 845,000 liters, the largest in the world.
On the opening day, the 7th, James Choi, Vice President of Sales Support, will deliver a presentation titled “Responding to Changing Biopharmaceutical Demand Through Integrated CDMO Services.” He plans to introduce the company’s integrated CDMO capabilities, which span from organoid and adeno-associated virus (AAV) technologies in the early research stages to development and production services such as antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), peptides, and prefilled syringes. The company will also highlight its global production and collaboration system, which is based at its Rockville, U.S., campus and its Tokyo sales office.
Choi Yeon-jeong, a professional at the New Modality Group, will present on “Optimizing ADC Conjugation Processes Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).” ADCs are known for the high complexity of their conjugation processes—which link antibodies to drugs—making the transition from small-scale development to commercial production a key challenge. SAMSUNG BIOLOGICS will present a strategy for reducing variables during process scale-up and establishing a stable GMP production system using CFD models.
Lotte Biologics will also present its global CDMO business strategy at its dedicated booth. The company is highlighting a supply chain capable of handling everything from clinical-scale production to commercial manufacturing, based on a “dual-site” system linking its Syracuse, U.S., plant with the Incheon Songdo Bio Campus. Plant No. 1 at the Songdo Bio Campus received its operating permit last June and is set to be officially completed in November. This event also serves as an opportunity to showcase the company’s production infrastructure and quality control capabilities to Asian clients ahead of full-scale commercial operations.
Korean biotech startups are also seeking Japanese partners at joint pavilions and individual booths. Participants in the Chungbuk Technopark joint pavilion include CellBio, Q-Peak Bio, CurioBio, Ipsell, A-Tems, and Youth Bio Global. Daejeon Technopark and the Korea Institute of Toxicology (KIT) are also supporting local business development efforts by Korean companies.
The participation of companies in the regenerative medicine sector is particularly notable. CellBio is seeking opportunities for global joint development and technology transfer of “CF-M801,” a treatment for bone diseases. #ORGANOIDSCIENCES LTD. is exploring opportunities for joint clinical trials in Japan and technology exports for “ATORM-C,” a candidate drug for Crohn’s disease, as well as partnerships with local pharmaceutical companies for its organoid-based drug evaluation platform “ODISEI.”
The National Institute of Toxicology will host a seminar on the 8th focused on Korea-Japan biotech collaboration and entry into global markets. Starting with CellBio and Q-Peak Bio, MCI, Medicus Biotech, Exolence, Psyki Biotech, and Recode will hold investor relations (IR) presentations in succession. The event will also discuss promising collaboration technologies and case studies between Korea and Japan, as well as positioning in the global market.
Global companies are also actively participating. Eli Lilly will host a seminar on “Lilly TuneLab,” which provides artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) models to the Japanese biotech ecosystem, and “Lilly ExploR&D,” a biotech innovation acceleration program. Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Roche, Lonza, and Agilent Biologics are also on the list of event participants.
