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Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (right) met with Kim Young-joon, Chairman of BG Pharmaceutical, a U.S.-based life sciences company, at a hotel in Seoul on the 22nd.
Photo: BG Pharmaceutical

It has been confirmed that former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Kim Young-jun, Chairman of BG Pharmaceutical, a U.S.-based life sciences company, during his recent visit to Korea, drawing attention to the background of the meeting.

Pompeo, who served as Secretary of State under the Trump administration and was one of former President Donald Trump’s closest allies, met with several of Korea’s top political and business figures during his visit, including President Yoon Suk Yeol and Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong.

According to sources, Pompeo joined BG Pharmaceutical as a strategic advisor in 2023, providing advice on business strategy and external affairs.

Pompeo is reportedly said to have accepted the advisory position because he shared BG Pharmaceutical’s vision of developing affordable drug candidates that could provide patients with more accessible treatment options, particularly those facing financial difficulties due to the high cost of medicines that can run into tens of millions of Korean won per year.

Pompeo is said to have joined the company as an advisor after personally reviewing the research findings with MIT Professor Emeritus Antoni Sinensky, Harvard Medical School Professor of Dermatology David Fisher, and Harvard Medical School Professor of Pathology George Murphy.

Professor Fisher serves as a medical advisor to BG Pharmaceutical, while Professors Sinensky and Murphy serve as scientific advisors.

The recent meeting between Pompeo and Chairman Kim in Seoul was reportedly held to share research progress on new healthcare products and drug candidates currently being developed at BG Pharmaceutical’s research centers in Boston and Korea, operated under BIOCOZ GLOBAL, and to discuss potential global licensing-out opportunities.

BG Pharmaceutical is reportedly drawing attention from the U.S. pharmaceutical market for healthcare products that are expected to have even greater potential than Eli Lilly’s obesity drug, which has recently driven a dramatic increase in the company’s valuation and helped make Eli Lilly the world’s largest pharmaceutical company by market capitalization.

Won-seop Yoon, Correspondent
(yws@mk.co.kr)