Marc Franck, Managing Director of Zuellig Pharma Korea, explains why Korea has become one of the company’s most strategic markets, driven by clinical trials, biologics and advanced logistics. He discusses investments in automation, the value of an integrated clinical-to-commercial offering, and Korea’s growing global role in biopharma. Marc also highlights sustainability and regional connectivity as key differentiators supporting the country’s long-term growth trajectory.
After nearly three decades leading businesses across emerging Asian markets, how has your experience of leading in Korea differed?
The mandate from the Zuellig Pharma group was clear when I arrived in July 2022: invest in Korea, upgrade our facilities, and accelerate the transformation of our business models here. That meant building out our logistics expertise, our infrastructure for clinical trial and distribution and commercialisation expertise. Korea was a deliberate strategic priority, and that is why I was asked to take it on – my background in building and transforming operations in complex markets was directly relevant.
The difference between leading in an emerging market and leading in a country like Korea is significant. In an emerging market, you are leading the curve. You bring technology, a way of working, a culture, an expertise that may not yet exist in that environment. You are to some extent setting the standard. In Korea, a highly developed and extraordinarily fast-moving market, you simply cannot afford to lag behind. The environment drives the direction, and your job is to be agile enough and bold enough to follow that flow – and to do it fast enough to become a partner of choice. The level of competition is a different order of magnitude. In an emerging market, you might have two or three organisations like Zuellig. In Korea, the competitive landscape is considerably more demanding. It requires a different approach entirely if you want to be a leader.
Zuellig Pharma has described Korea as a core country for the group. What makes it so strategically significant?
The starting point is innovation. Korea is where innovation is happening right now, and that alone makes it indispensable. Beyond that, the market size is substantial: approximately USD 24 billion for pharma alone, nearly USD 15 billion for medical devices, and additional volume in OTC and consumer health. That scale makes it attractive on pure market terms.
Zuellig Pharma also has a long history in Korea, having helped a significant number of multinationals enter this complex market since the mid-1990s. We have built real depth here over 30 years. Today we have approximately 1,000 people in Korea operating across three main divisions.
First is Clinical Trial Support (CTS), which is by far one of Zuellig Pharma’s most significant business unit globally. Korea is approximately the fifth largest clinical trial market in the world, and we are managing around 1,000 clinical trials at any given time. The medicine of tomorrow is being tested and validated in Korea. That is not a small statement. Next is our Distribution division, where we manage approximately 65 percent of multinational import warehouses in Korea, with total throughput of around USD 5 billion out of a total pharmaceutical market of approximately USD 23 billion. Lastly is our Commercialization division, which provides the full range of sales, marketing, medical, and regulatory capabilities for companies that do not have their own legal entity in Korea or companies in Korea willing to outsource the commercialization of their products.
As clinical trial pipelines shift toward biologics, cell and gene therapies, what are your clients asking of you?
Clinical trial management is a zero-error environment. A single mistake in logistics or product handling can compromise an entire trial, and clients understand that acutely. Quality encompasses everything: how you handle the product, how you transport it, how you manage it at the clinical research organisation, your secondary packaging capability for double-blind and single-blind studies. Speed is equally non-negotiable – this is Korea, after all.
What we are clearly seeing now is a shift toward biological and gene therapy products that require genuinely advanced technical management. We are no longer talking only about cold chain requirements at 2–8°C, but increasingly also at -30°C and -70°C. This is a very different operational challenge from managing conventional pharmaceuticals. The demand we are seeing today is specifically for that advanced clinical trial capability – the ability to manage complex logistics and highly sensitive product handling for the next generation of therapies.
You invested significantly in an automated clinical trial innovation centre in Gyeonggi-do. What does that investment deliver?
Automation brings scalability, speed, accuracy, and quality. It reduces operational errors, improves space efficiency, and has a meaningful sustainability benefit as well – a more condensed operation uses less electricity and reduces your environmental footprint. But perhaps most importantly in this context, an automated, system-driven environment means that everything can be reviewed, assessed, and validated. It creates traceability and transparency throughout the process, which is exactly what clinical trial clients need.
Before any clinical trial begins, clients conduct rigorous facility audits. They are not going to accept a PowerPoint presentation – they come in person and examine every element: computer system validation, secondary packaging capabilities, inbound and outbound processes, and strict temperature control management. When they walk into a state-of-the-art innovation centre that meets the highest global standards, it immediately creates the confidence that we are the right partner to entrust with their trial. Zuellig Pharma has been operating in Asia for over 100 years, building an enduring reputation. In Korea specifically, we have been providing dedicated Clinical Trial Support (CTS) services since 2008. Combining over 15 years of specialized clinical logistics expertise combined with this level of world-class infrastructure sends a very clear signal.
Are your clinical trial clients primarily multinationals, or are Korean domestic companies also using your capabilities?
While multinationals make up a significant portion of our portfolio, Korean domestic companies are a rapidly growing segment, now accounting for approximately 20% of our clinical trial activity (notably, domestic clients make up 60% of our total client base). The reason they choose Zuellig Pharma goes far beyond simply preparing for Multi-Regional Clinical Trials (MRCTs).
Today, domestic clinical programs are becoming increasingly sophisticated and complex. Korean pharmaceutical and biotech companies require a partner with deep expertise, proven know-how, and extensive experience. They come to us for our comprehensive, high-end capabilities: from clinical comparator sourcing and highly specialized secondary packaging to the precise management of diverse temperature conditions within our state-of-the-art facilities.
They demand world-class execution for their local studies today. Because we consistently deliver this level of operational excellence domestically, we naturally become their most trusted strategic partner when they are ready to scale their research globally through MRCTs
How does Zuellig Pharma bridge from clinical trial support into the commercial phase for companies transitioning from late-stage development to launch?
This is where our integrated value proposition becomes most visible. A clinical trial from preclinical to phase III validation typically takes six to eight years. Once validated, the next step is marketing authorisation with the Ministry of Health, which in Korea takes approximately one to one and a half year. After that comes reimbursement, which requires specialised market access expertise. We have regulatory professionals who can manage the registration process, medical access professionals who understand the reimbursement landscape, and then the full commercial infrastructure – sales, marketing, medical, and pharmacovigilance functions – to launch and build the product in the market. And finally, the last mile: distribution to pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics. Zuellig Pharma can accompany a client from the clinical trial through every step to the point at which a patient receives the medicine. That is a genuinely complete service offering, and it is what makes Korea such an important market for us to be well established in.
Korea is undergoing significant healthcare pricing reform. How does that affect your business and your clients?
The reform as currently structured is focused primarily on generic and off-patent product reimbursement pricing rather than on innovation. The gap between MNC product reimbursement rates and generic reimbursement rates in Korea has historically been narrow, and the current reform is aimed at addressing generic pricing specifically. We are engaged through our membership of KRPIA and working with Korean industry associations to understand where we can add value. Risk-sharing agreements are an interesting concept in principle, and the Ministry of Health is working through how reimbursement models evolve. We are watching that space closely and contributing where we can through our association relationships.
What kinds of partnerships are you actively developing in the Korean market?
We work with KOTRA to help Korean organisations enter markets where Zuellig Pharma has a presence. With an 18-country footprint across Asia, we are well placed to support Korean companies looking to internationalise – which is one of the priorities the government has clearly set for the industry.
What is your approach to sustainability?
Sustainability is something I am particularly proud of and would not want to leave out. Zuellig Pharma holds EcoVadis Platinum certification for the fifth year in a row, which places us in the top one percent of companies worldwide on sustainability standards. That is a significant achievement and a genuine differentiator. Korea has committed to achieving its own sustainability targets by 2030, and our clients increasingly have their own carbon reduction and ESG commitments. Being ahead of that curve means our sustainability credentials are not just a badge – they actively support the conversations we have with clients about collaboration and partnership. It is something the organisation has put considerable effort into, and it matters.
As someone working daily across multinational and domestic pharma clients in Korea, where do you see the country’s potential in biopharma over the next decade?
I believe that ten years from now we will be talking about fundamentally different medicines. The majority of conventional tablets will have given way to prophylactic treatments – injectable vaccines and biologics designed to prevent disease rather than treat it after the fact. That is the direction medicine is heading, and Korea is exceptionally well positioned for it.
Korea’s biosimilar environment is already strong, and as major products lose patent protection they will be replaced by high-quality biosimilars. Korea is one of the best-placed countries in the world to produce those. Beyond biosimilars, the government is actively supporting R&D, funding start-ups, and enabling preclinical and phase one clinical work on new products. I can see Korea becoming a genuine hub for innovative medicine.
The ingredients are all here: the technology, the talent, the medical infrastructure, the universities, the clinical institutions. And then there is the speed culture itself. Look at what Samsung has done in semiconductors – it is extraordinary what this country has achieved when it commits to an industry. I am quite convinced that biopharma will follow the same trajectory. That is medium-term, but it is happening.
Looking three to five years ahead, what are your personal ambitions for Zuellig Pharma in Korea?
On a personal note, I intend to spend considerably more time in Korea. What is happening here is genuinely fascinating – you can feel the energy. The growth in local Korean clinical trials coming through our Clinical Trial Support (CTS)department is tangible and real. This is not artificial momentum.
The current pharmaceutical distribution environment will certainly evolve over the years – that is a natural maturation of the market. Zuellig Pharma is well placed to be part of this transformation
My ambition is straightforwardly to continue developing Zuellig Pharma’s presence here, to deepen our commercial partnerships, and to keep building on the trajectory we have established. Korea is on a genuinely strong path, and I want to be part of where it goes.
