Boryung takes 'health is wealth' to whole new level – space

South Korean biotech and pharmaceutical companies are expanding their footholds in the global space medicine market. Boryung, formerly Boryung Pharmaceutical, is one of them.

The pharmaceutical giant announced Tuesday that it will host an accelerator program with US space infrastructure developer Axiom Space, Inc. Aviation accelerator Starburst Aerospace is also one of the hosts. 

The three companies are poised to jointly host a healthcare accelerator program called Care In Space.

They will receive ideas on the healthcare business in space for three months with the demo day scheduled for December. 

Boryung plans to nurture the selected startups and contribute to funding rounds worth $100,000.

The Boryung Group’s interest in the space medicine market began with owner Kim Jung-gyun’s visit to NASA's Johnson Space Center about two years ago. Kim is currently the chief operating officer of Boryung Holdings. 

The grandson of the company’s founder asked NASA whether sick people could travel to space and the answer was that the institute was still unsure. This is what sparked him to form a task force in October 2020. 

Back in 2020, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded Axiom a $140 million contract to provide at least one habitable spacecraft to attach to the International Space Station (ISS). The contract came as part of the broader Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) initiative.

In addition to NASA, Axiom is also partnering with SpaceX to launch its private astronauts.

Axiom brokered the world’s first all-private mission to the ISS called AX-1. The company books rocket rides, provides the complete training, and coordinates flights to the space station for private citizens. 

The 12-day multimillion-dollar journey is slated to complete its final leg this week. 

Write to Ji-Hyun Lee at bluesky@hankyung.com
Jee Abbey Lee edited this article.