Pharmaceuticals market size South Korea 2013-2023

In 2023, the market size of the pharmaceutical industry in South Korea amounted to approximately 31.7 trillion South Korean won. This represents an increase from around 30.1 trillion won in the previous year. The market size has generally been increasing since 2013. 

Pharmaceuticals in Korea

Many Korean pharmaceutical companies are manufacture high-quality products, with leading companies including Celltrion, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, and others. Celltrion recorded a production value of around 1.6 trillion won in 2023. Most drugs produced in South Korea that year were prescription drugs. Injections and oral intake drugs were particularly common. 

COVID-19 and Korean Pharmaceutical

Like many others, the Korean pharmaceutical industry was affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In the first half of 2020, Celltrion saw its revenue grow by 93.1 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. This was thanks to Celltrion’s COVID-19 antibody treatments, and led to the company having the largest revenue among Korean pharmaceuticals at the time. Pharmaceutical exports rose sharply in March 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic spread around the globe, nearly 700 million U.S. dollars’ worth. This was approximately 1.5 times more than the previous month’s export value.