United States-based Eli Lilly has signed a five-year, $500 million (€423 million) memorandum of understanding with the South Korean government to invest in the country's biopharma industry, according to a Fierce Biotech report.

The investment aims to attract clinical trials to South Korea whilst powering new innovation through opening an incubator as part of the Lilly Gateway Labs network, according to a release from South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The new Gateway Lab will be built in collaboration with South Korean manufacturing giant Samsung Biologics and is set to house up to 30 companies. The facility strengthens South Korea's position as a pharmaceutical innovation hub in Asia.

"This agreement will serve as a meaningful opportunity to strengthen the innovation capacity of Korea's pharmaceutical and biopharma industry, while accelerating innovative drug development by promising domestic companies and enhancing their global competitiveness," said Jeong Eun-kyeong, South Korea's minister of health and welfare.

Investing in South Korea's biopharma landscape aligns with the Indianapolis-based drugmaker's plan to use its weight loss drug windfall to become a hub of global innovation. Other parts of this endeavour include a supercomputer from Nvidia and dedicated venture funds.

The pledge follows Roche's similar $484 million (€415 million) pact with South Korea announced less than one week earlier, which described a goal of building an ecosystem for global clinical trials and fuelling enhanced research and development capabilities.

Lilly previously sought biotech innovation from South Korea, partnering with RNA editing company Rznomics in 2025 to co-develop a hearing loss therapy in a deal potentially worth $1.3 billion (€1.1 billion). Other large pharmaceutical companies have also turned to South Korea for novel candidates, including Vertex Pharmaceuticals, GSK and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Read the complete article on Eli Lilly's South Korea investment and global innovation strategy.