[Reporter’s View] Bio USA: Time to show results

Every year after the BIO International Convention (BIO USA) concludes, Korean biotechnology companies release a wave of press statements. They announce that they held dozens of meetings with global pharmaceutical companies, expanded partnerships, and confirmed strong interest in licensing deals for their products.

However, what the market wants to know is not who they met at the conference. It wants to know how far the discussions have progressed.

To be fair, the public releases are not mere publicity stunts. BIO USA remains one of the world's premier partnering events, and for Korean biotech companies, consistently participating and maintaining dialogue with global pharmaceutical companies is meaningful in itself.

New drug development is not an industry where results emerge overnight. Discussions with multinational pharmaceutical companies rarely translate directly into licensing agreements. Even when negotiations are progressing well, confidentiality agreements, additional on-site inspections, data reviews, and internal decision-making processes often make it impossible to disclose developments publicly.

Even so, the optimistic language that follows BIO USA each year deserves closer scrutiny. If every conference is followed by familiar phrases such as "strong global interest," "expanded partnering discussions," or "enhanced licensing opportunities," it is only natural that the market's questions shift to what comes next.

More important than claiming to have attracted interest is explaining what discussions followed. More important than announcing a meeting is demonstrating whether tangible progress has been made. Whether participation in BIO USA represents a one-time event or part of a long-term business development strategy ultimately becomes evident through the company’s move after the conference.

Likewise, global pharmaceutical companies evaluate far more than a company’s promising technology. They assess not only the potential of an individual pipeline candidate but also the scalability of the underlying platform, the strength of follow-on pipelines, clinical development capabilities, and the company's ability to build sustained relationships with global partners.

That is precisely why continuity is highly valued in global partnering discussions.

From the perspective of biotechnology companies, the situation can also be frustrating. Although the market demands rapid results, technology licensing and collaborative research agreements rarely progress on speed alone. It is not uncommon for discussions to continue for several months, or even more than a year, after an initial meeting. The absence of an immediate announcement following BIO USA does not necessarily mean the meetings produced no meaningful outcome.

At the same time, however, the industry should be cautious about treating attendance itself as an achievement. Simply meeting with multinational pharmaceutical companies does not, by itself, validate a company's technological competitiveness. The number of partnering meetings held is less important than the quality of those discussions, and the real measure of success lies not in initial reactions at the conference but in subsequent validation.

There is no doubt that BIO USA has helped Korean biotechnology companies strengthen their presence on the global stage. At a time when capital markets for the biotech sector remain weak, and scrutiny has intensified following technology-special listing reforms, expanding relationships with overseas partners carries significant implications for both corporate value and long-term survival. Dialogue with multinational pharmaceutical companies can also help companies better understand the competitiveness of their technologies and refine future development directions.

However, the industry has now reached a point where results must accumulate alongside the rhetoric. It is time to ask whether ‘expanded discussions’ led to additional meetings, whether ‘strong interest’ resulted in requests for data or joint evaluations, and whether ‘strengthened partnerships’ evolved into lasting relationships that continue at later conferences.

BIO USA is an annual event. That is precisely why the venue is important. More important than participating once is demonstrating more mature data the following year, continuing deeper discussions with the same partners, and ultimately delivering on the commitments made to the market. The company’s true success from BIO USA is realized only after the event concludes.