본문
When I heard that CEO Kim Jeong-min, who had been recognized as a "outstanding performing researcher" in the pharmaceutical industry and had built a successful career, had suddenly decided to give up everything and launch a startup, I was more curious than just surprised. He already had experience successfully launching drugs while serving as the head of a research lab at a major domestic pharmaceutical company. What prompted him to take on the arduous challenge of starting a new drug development company? Hit News recently visited CEO Kim Jeong-min to hear directly about his decision to give up everything and start his own business, and what the strategies and potential of the new drugs that DigmBio is developing.
“A company that shined in series A, from establishing DigmBio”
While it might have been a time for someone to consider retirement, CEO Kim Jeong-min's mind was instead filled with new ideas. He had achieved remarkable results in new drug development for over 40 years, working for LG Chem, Green Cross, and Jeil Pharmaceuticals, and has a stable position as the head of a research lab at a leading domestic pharmaceutical company. However, one question lingered in his mind: Why don't there still be a medicine to cure this disease?'
Dementia was a disease that had long lingered in CEO Kim's mind. Degenerative brain diseases including dementia profoundly shake not only the lives of patients but also their families. However, the pharmaceutical industry was reluctant to tackle these diseases. He said, "From a corporate perspective, degenerative brain diseases are a very challenging field. The risk of clinical failure is high, and persuading investors is difficult. That's why no one wants to pursue it." He added, "That's why I ultimately had no choice but to take the plunge."
CEO Kim has already been recognized in the pharmaceutical industry as a "performance-driven individual." While serving as head of Jeil Pharmaceutical's research lab, the anticancer and digestive disease treatments he developed were spun off into a subsidiary, Onconic, and successfully went public. The company couldn't let him go so easily. They offered him a year of persistent persuasion, offering him to remain as head of the lab until he was 70.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. I often wondered if I'd made the wrong decision. But I thought, if not now, never. I figured that when I got older, I wouldn't be able to take risks or have the courage to take risks," he recalled. Ultimately, he left behind a stable life and took the plunge into entrepreneurship. He was already in his early 60s, and he considered it his last challenge.
Behind CEO Kim's decision was a deep conviction. A man of faith, he always believed that "where there's a mission, there's a way." He said, "Developing new drugs is not just about making another drug. I believe it's about saving lives and turning them around." He added, "Just as Jesus healed the sick and felt compassion, I wanted to develop drugs with the same heart." Developing new drugs felt like a calling.
The reality wasn't easy. DigmBio started out in a small laboratory with only basic experimental equipment. Initially, it consisted of only HPLC and a mass spectrometer, and many around him were skeptical, wondering if it could even succeed. Amid the difficult financial difficulties of the early days of his startup, he adopted the most pragmatic strategy: research on small molecules, which required relatively little capital but offered a high probability of success.