<div id="readability-page-1">Yoon Dae-in, chairman of Sam Chun Dang Pharm, joined the ranks of the nation’s 50 richest this year at the 10th place after his company struck a deal to develop a weight-loss product.Dae-in, with a net worth of $5.9 billion, has now surpassed many tech and media tycoons in wealth following the company’s agreement with Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo signed in January to develop a pill that works similarly to the weight-loss injectable Wegovy made by Denmark-based Novo Nordisk, according to U.S. magazine Forbes.Two additional pharmaceutical entrepreneurs have entered the rankings for the first time. One of them is biologist Lee Sang-hoon with a net worth of $1.4 billion, ranking 39th in the country.He is the chairman and CEO of ABL Bio, which develops antibodies to improve treatment outcomes for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.<table><tbody><tr><td><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://vcdn1-english.vnecdn.net/2026/04/14/A-19814-20805-203-upscayl-2x-u-7564-6651-1776154161.png/query-ZHByPTEmZml0PWNyb3AmaD0wJnE9MTAwJnM9cTRZaVhvRlE4UndhYnc0Z0NoR2lYZyZ3PTY4MA?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://vcdn1-english.vnecdn.net/2026/04/14/A-19814-20805-203-upscayl-2x-u-7564-6651-1776154161.png/query-ZHByPTEmZml0PWNyb3AmaD0wJnE9MTAwJnM9cTRZaVhvRlE4UndhYnc0Z0NoR2lYZyZ3PTY4MA"/></td> </tr><tr><td> Lee Sang-hoon, chairman and CEO of ABL Bio. Photo courtesy of the company </td> </tr></tbody></table>It signed a $2.6 billion technology-transfer deal with U.S.-based pharma company Eli Lilly in November last year.Another new billionaire is Hyuntae Kim (with a net worth of $1.3 billion), CEO of Voronoi, which is known for its AI-powered drug discovery platform and has two prospective cancer treatments in development.These newly created fortunes underscore the growing prominence of South Korea’s healthcare sector, and more specifically biotech, as a pathway to wealth in a country long dominated by industries such as electronics, semiconductors and online gaming.Six of the country’s 50 richest are in the healthcare industry, with one of them, Seo Jung-jin, claiming the third place with $8.1 billion in net worth.Ho-Cheol Lee, senior analyst at Shinhan Securities, building credibility with global pharmaceutical leaders has been central to the sector’s rise.Over the past year, Korean firms have signed more than a dozen joint research agreements with multinational companies, up from seven in 2024.&#34;This marks a dramatic acceleration,&#34; he told Forbes. &#34;Until 2023, the sector averaged fewer than three such deals annually.&#34;The increasing global profile of South Korea’s pharmaceutical players reflects a broader transition from domestic manufacturing to advanced research and development, according to Lee.This shift, he says, has been driven by &#34;several pioneer companies that successfully secured multibillion dollar licensing deals with Big Pharma.&#34;Among these trailblazers are Jung-jin, co-founder of cancer-treating drugs producer Celltrion and Park Soon-jae ($2.6 billion in net worth), founder of Alteogen.The latter secured a $450 million licensing agreement with Merck in 2024 for a cancer therapy, sending its shares higher and earning Park a debut on the country’s rich list that year.&#34;These milestones proved that Korean biotech could move beyond domestic production to high-stakes research and development,&#34; says Lee.</div>

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韓國的醫療保健行業正在蓬勃發展，製藥公司追求豐厚的合作伙伴關係，創造了新的億萬富翁。三春堂製藥的尹大仁以 59 億美元的淨資產位列全國富豪榜第十，得益於與第一三共達成的一項減肥產品交易。新晉億萬富翁包括 ABL Bio 的李相勳（14 億美元）和 Voronoi 的金炫泰（13 億美元）。醫療保健財富的崛起反映了向先進研發的轉變，韓國公司與全球企業簽署了更多的聯合研究協議，標誌着行業的重大轉型

韓國的醫療保健熱潮催生了新的億萬富翁