Martial law impacts the launch of the Pharma-Bio Committee

Committee’s launch has been postponed indefinitely

Will stall the establishment of a national control tower for homegrown blockbuster drugs, etc.

Amidst crisis, pharma industry “expects launch plan to take shape after political turmoil stabilizes”

The National Bio Committee directly under the President, which was scheduled to be launched this month, has been disrupted by President Suk-Yeol Yoon’s declaration of emergency martial law.

 

As the National Assembly is in the early stages of voting on an impeachment bill against President Suk-Yeol Yoon, who was supposed to chair the committee, the establishment of the National Pharmaceutical and Biotech Control Tower is at risk of being canceled.  According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 10th, the first meeting of the National Bio Committee, originally scheduled for sometime this month, has been postponed indefinitely.

 

The MOHW explained that it has not received a specific date for the launch of the committee nor a date for its future launch.

 

The National Bio Committee, a body directly under the president, is responsible for deliberating on policies such as R&D and approval in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.

 

The Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, all of which are related to the industry, have been jointly preparing for its launch.  Sang-Yeop Lee, Vice President of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), was internally designated as the Civilian Vice Chairman, and more than 20 bio experts in the field of biotechnology, including Bit-nae-ri Kim, Director at the Institute for Basic Science, Han-Seung Ko, head of Samsung Electronics' Future Business Planning Division, and Young-Tae Kim, President of Seoul National University Hospital, were scheduled to participate as civilian committee members.

 

In particular, the controversial inclusion of a global pharmaceutical company executive among the civilian members has stirred up controversy, and the confusion surrounding the Bio Committee grew greater with the rise of the impeachment situation due to President Yoon's declaration of martial law.

 

The government's plans to become one of the top five global bio powerhouses and create blockbuster national drugs have been compromised.  In the midst of the state of impeachment, President Yoon has stated that he will leave his term and stabilization plan to his party, and the opposition party has stated that they will repeat the impeachment vote every Saturday, virtually halting all schedules for the National Bio Committee.

 

The pharma and biotech industry has expressed regret that the martial law and impeachment aftermath has unexpectedly shaken the establishment of the Bio Committee.  “There were concerns that the National Bio Committee, directly under the president, would overlap with the Bio Health Innovation Committee, an organization directly under the prime minister, but the pharmaceutical industry still had high expectations,” said a pharmaceutical industry official.

 

”We do not expect the Bio Committee, chaired by the president, to be able to play its role in the situation where the impeachment bill is presented in the National Assembly.” “We have effectively lost one window to directly appeal to the president for policies to strengthen state support for domestic pharmaceutical companies aiming to develop global new drugs,” the official said, adding, ”It is the hope of the pharmaceutical industry to wait for the political turmoil to be cleared up quickly and for the committee's launch and operation plan to materialize.