The SK Group is taking a series of actions to increase its investment in bioscience with an aim to lead other businesses in the field. It is also readjusting the schedule for the investment for earlier actions. An official at the SK Group said on March 27, ?Last year, we posted more than 100 billion won in sales in the bioscience sector alone for the first time in our history. We are considering taking actions for large-scale investment in the bioscience sector six months earlier than the original schedule. This will be another major investment by the Group in a specific field after energy, chemistry, and information and telecommunications. The Group is also considering greatly increasing the amount of investment from the 200 billion won originally earmarked. Within the Group, the bioscience sector has so far been in the charge of SK Corporation and SK chemicals (for R&D), and SK Pharmaceuticals and Dongshin Pharmaceuticals (for production and marketing). SK chemicals recently announced its plan to join Korea?s Big Ten pharmaceuticals within 2002 by establishing a pharmaceutical business division. SK chemicals also plans to increase its equity in Dongshin Pharmaceuticals (which it took over in 2001)) from the present 26.61% to 30% through a process of turning CBs into stocks in order to secure a dominant management right. Having decided to make China a forward base even for the bioscience business, the SK Group plans to invest in traditional Chinese medicine. As part of such a plan, it broke ground early this year in building a bioscience research institute in Shanghai with its schedule for completion in June 2002, investing more than 10 billion won. An SK Group official says, ?We intend to have the institute scientifically define traditional Chinese medicine and market it worldwide.? The Group has made one hit product after another in recent days. SK Pharmaceutical?s Trust, a patch-type drug for complete treatment of chronic retrogressive arthritis enjoyed the highest market share among the same kind of drugs in 2001 The Company will start exporting its ?Joins,? an arthritis pill which has been approved in Australia and New Zealand. Drugs for treatment of hypochondria and epilepsy developed in 1996 and 1998, respectively, by SK Corporation?s research institute in the U.S. have been approved by the FDA and are currently undergoing clinical tests. SK Corporation President Kim Chang-geun says, ?Our commitment to bioscience is very strong. Some time later, people will say that SK is to bioscience what POSCO is to steel.? - March 28 issue of the Choson Newspaper?