[비즈한국] Dongkook Pharmaceutical086450 has begun expanding its portfolio by injecting large-scale capital into funds focused on non-pharmaceutical/bio industries, such as robotics and agri-food. Simultaneously, the disappearance of the New Drug Research Team within the DK Pharmaceutical Research Institute following an organizational restructuring has led to observations that Dongkook Pharmaceutical's strategic stance on new drug development may have shifted.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service, Dongkook Pharmaceutical made a new capital contribution of 10 billion won to the KIWOOM-Dooeun Wonderland Private Equity Partnership in the third quarter of last year. This fund, established in August 2025, is an institutional private equity fund (PEF) primarily operated for the purpose of corporate M&A or large-scale equity investments.
In particular, this 10 billion won contribution is the third-largest in Dongkook Pharmaceutical's investment history, following investments in Dongkook Life Science and Libom Cosmetic. The fact that such an unusually large sum was poured into a single fund supports the analysis that Dongkook Pharmaceutical is actively seeking "big deals" or entry into new business areas through external investments.
In addition to this, in the fourth quarter of last year, Dongkook Pharmaceutical invested 600 million won in NH-Magna Agri-Food Scale-up Fund No. 1, 500 million won in the AIM-Korea Investment Robotics Investment Association, and 340 million won in the AIM-Harang Agricultural Innovation Secondary Investment Association. The investment amount for the AIM-Harang Agricultural Innovation Secondary Investment Association has currently increased to 1 billion won.
The investment in the AIM-Harang Agricultural Innovation Secondary Investment Association is not an investment in early-stage ventures, but rather a method of purchasing equity in venture companies that other venture capital (VC) firms have already invested in; it has the advantage of generating more stable returns compared to other funds.
A Dongkook Pharmaceutical official stated regarding the background of this new fund contribution, "It was carried out for the diversification of the asset portfolio and the enhancement of mid-to-long-term profitability."
Some in the industry view this as a fund-led open innovation strategy that goes beyond simple financial investment. The analysis suggests that rather than taking on investment risks by directly establishing new business units, the intention is to indirectly discover future growth engines—such as robot technology to dominate healthcare infrastructure and smart farm technology related to raw material supply chains—by leveraging funds.
The NH-Magna Agri-Food Scale-up Fund No. 1 invests capital into the agriculture, forestry, and food sectors that have entered the scale-up stage, as well as smart farm and food-tech companies. It can be seen that Dongkook Pharmaceutical, which possesses manufacturing capabilities for natural product-based over-the-counter drugs and is pushing to expand its health functional food and beauty businesses, has set out to secure a stable supply chain for plant-based raw materials.
The AIM-Korea Investment Robotics Investment Association is a fund targeting hardware and software technology startups related to robotics. It is evaluated as a stepping stone for Dongkook Pharmaceutical to enter the physical AI ecosystem by proactively securing technologies such as automation robots that can be combined with future healthcare businesses.
At the same time, Dongkook Pharmaceutical is seeking to improve investment efficiency by consolidating its direct equity holdings in bio-ventures like Inventa and MetiMedi Pharmaceuticals under Dongkook Life Science, which went public on the KOSDAQ in February 2025.
On the other hand, contrasting changes are detected within its internal R&D organization. The New Drug Research Team, which was responsible for independent pipeline discovery under the DK Pharmaceutical Research Institute, disappeared from the organizational chart in the third quarter of last year. Additionally, Kang Soo-yeon, the former executive director who was the head of the DK Pharmaceutical Research Institute, resigned on July 31 last year. Currently, the position of head of the DK Pharmaceutical Research Institute is held concurrently by Executive Director Park Joon-sang of the Central Research Institute. For this reason, questions have been raised about whether there is a shift in Dongkook Pharmaceutical's new drug development strategy. Regarding this, a Dongkook Pharmaceutical official explained, "It was reorganized to be managed under the Specialized Formulation Research Department."
The DK Pharmaceutical Research Institute was established in January 2022 to develop special formulations based on drug delivery systems (DDS), such as liposomes (artificial structures) capable of containing both water and oil, and microsphere technology, which involves ultra-fine capsules for holding drugs. It is interpreted that the company has opted for a strategic choice and focus: concentrating on advancing the specialized formulation capabilities that were the original purpose of the research institute's establishment, rather than pursuing reckless new drug development, while simultaneously infusing future innovation technologies from the outside through funds.