The Tamesis
IInvestor optimism about a pill version of a weight-loss injection developed by South Korea’s Sam Chun Dang Pharm (SCD) has pushed the company’s shares higher, up more than 75% so far this month. The surge in stock prices has made the company’s chairman, Yin Daren, a billionaire.
Mr. Yin, who turns 76 in March, directly and indirectly owns 34% of the company. He also owns a small stake in OPTUS Pharmaceutical, the eye drop manufacturing arm of SCD. Forbes Yoon’s net worth is estimated to be $2.1 billion.
SCD, headquartered in Hyangnam, south of Seoul, develops active pharmaceutical ingredients for the treatment of dry eye disease and hypertension. The company also develops novel drug delivery systems, such as S-Pass, which converts injectable drugs into easy-to-take pills.
On Thursday, SCD announced that it had signed an agreement with Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo to jointly develop and commercialize SCD’s weight loss drug in Japan, which was developed using S-Pass. While the financial terms of the deal have not yet been finalized, SCD shares have risen nearly 40% since the announcement. Last week, Seoul-based investment bank Korea Investment Securities selected SCD as its “Recommended Stock of the Week,” citing S-Pass’s “potential for clinical success as a formulation technology for oral obesity and diabetes treatment.”
Another new drug delivery system developed by SCD is microsphere-based long-acting injection, which injects time-release pellets to slowly release the drug over several months. On January 7, SCD announced it had signed an agreement that could be worth up to $2 billion to obtain the exclusive rights to sell long-acting injectable leuprolide, a hormone drug developed by Japan’s Takeda for the treatment of prostate cancer, in the United States. SCD develops long-acting injectable leuprolide using microsphere technology, for which it will receive about $100 million in upfront and milestone payments, with the remaining $2 billion coming from a 50-50 profit share.
In the first nine months of 2025, SCD’s revenue increased 6.3% year-on-year to 165.5 billion won ($113 million), while net profit during the same period increased 76% year-on-year to 70 billion won.
SCD was founded in 1943 during the Japanese occupation (1910-45) as Chosun Sam Chun Dang. (There is no public information about its founder.) In 1986, after completing his MBA at New York’s Long Island University, Yin (whose father owned medical centers and educational institutions) used family funds to acquire Chosun Sam Chun Dang for an undisclosed amount. SCD was listed on South Korea’s technology-rich KOSDAQ stock exchange in 2000, raising 9.1 billion won in its initial public offering.
Yoon, who studied business as an undergraduate at Seoul National University, serves as co-CEO of SCD until 2022 with his son-in-law Chun In-seok. Chun joined the company in 2014 and remains CEO.
Yoon joins a list of South Korean biotech and pharmaceutical billionaires, including biosimilars giant Celltrion’s Seo Jung-jin ($8.5 billion); Alteogen’s Park Soon-jae ($2.7 billion); anti-wrinkle injection maker Caregen’s Chung Yong-ji ($2.1 billion); ABL Bio’s Lee Sang-hoon ($1.6 billion); PharmaResearch’s Jung Sang-soo ($12) $1 billion), which makes skin-enhancing injections derived from salmon sperm cells; and Voronoi’s Hyuntae Kim ($1 billion), which uses artificial intelligence to develop anti-cancer drugs.
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