April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] The South Korean government said on Jan. 17 that it would invest 98.2 billion won (US$82.76 million) in improving its evaluation guidelines for new biopharmaceutical products over the next 10 years. 

The plans came as part of the latest agenda set by a special pan-government biotechnology committee led by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.

The body was established in March 2016 to streamline all policymaking related to the country’s fast-growing biotech business and to act as a “control tower” that can bridge related policies that are scattered across multiple ministries.

Led by the committee’s agenda, Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will invest 40 billion won between now and 2027 toward devising improved regulatory guidelines for stem cell therapies, 20.2 billion for precision medicine and 38 billion won for infectious disease-targeting vaccines.

More specifically, the ministry plans to establish new regulatory standards on next-generation biological therapies that are compatible with those of other pharmaceutical regulators around the world.

It vowed to seal additional agreements with overseas drug regulators on mutually recognizing one another’s Good Manufacturing Practice certification for medicinal products, which would ease the entry of Korea-made drugs to global markets.

“Though Korea has taken measures to improve its biopharmaceutical regulatory system, it needs further improvements to secure a lead in the global biopharma market,” the ministry said in a statement.

Despite the rapid growth of Korea’s biopharmaceutical industry, Korea only takes up around 1 percent of the global market, ranking at around 14th place in terms of market size, it added.

Moreover, the Science Ministry pledged to streamline its ongoing R&D funding program for DNA therapy, genome analysis, precision medicine and disease diagnostic technologies —currently scattered across seven ministries — under a single body for improved efficiency.

Among other plans, the committee vowed to help expand Korea’s biotechnology sector to go beyond the medicine-focused “red biotech” sector, and to encompass the industrial-focused white biotech and plant-based green biotech segments. 

By Sohn Ji-young/The Korea Herald (jys@heraldcorp.com)