Montgomery, S. Korea Find a Fit

Foreign Biotech Firms Attracted to County's Key Location

Montgomery County officials greeted a South Korean governor and eight South Korean executives this week as part of its effort to woo that country's growing biotech and pharmaceutical industries.

In order to drum up biotechnology prospects, Montgomery County is turning, in particular, to South Korea's central province, Chungcheonbuk-do. That landlocked region, typically referred to as "Chungbuk," is home to much of that country's biotech industry.

Officials on both sides say they see a mutually beneficial fit. South Korea has been making a concerted effort to boost its standing as a biotech player: Chungbuk is ranked as home of the world's 14th largest biotech industry, and the government's goal is to make it to 7th place by 2016.

One of Montgomery County's biggest assets, as an area trying to attract some of that investment capital, is its proximity to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and its drug-approving regulators. County officials also tout the region's access to research facilities such as Johns Hopkins University and a deep pool of qualified potential employees.

Through a translator, the president and chief executive of a South Korean company that makes synthetic bonds used in oral surgery cited all of those factors as the reason for his visit to the area.

Last year, Suk-Song Oh's company invested $1 million to open a marketing office based in Horsham, Pa. This year, the company, Meta Biomed, is looking to have a research and development presence in this country. The facility will likely be built in one of Montgomery County's biotech industry incubators, constructed in the past few years to encourage just this sort of thing.

At a Friday luncheon for the delegation, held at a Peruvian restaurant in Rockville Town Square, Oh told a reporter he thinks Montgomery has the "world's top infrastructure" for his company's expansion.

Montgomery County has been fostering this sort of relationship since 1999, with the opening of a 60,0000- square-foot business incubator, equipped with laboratory space, in Rockville. In the past few years, five or more Korean biotech companies have established a presence in the county; County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) said Montgomery County's business incubators have helped bring 18,000 jobs to the area.

"We're trying to provide synergies," said Leggett, who visited with the Chungbuk region's governor last October.

For this trip, Leggett hosted the South Korean group on visits to the FDA and Rockville's incubator space.

The most prominent South Korean company with a presence in suburban Maryland, RNL Biostar, announced this month that it will open a research and development facility and a new manufacturing facility in the area. Researchers in those labs will look for ways to treat degenerative ailments such as Buerger's disease, arthritis and spinal cord injuries. The company said it expects to bring 50 jobs to the area in the next three years.

Chungbuk's governor, Woo-Taik Chung, said he has been meeting with Montgomery County officials, particularly Leggett, for two years.

"Montgomery County is the only county we have this sort of relationship with," he said, through a translator.