Countdown to the Prime Minister’s Biohealth Committee

Overall outlook from pharmaceutical bio industry to healthcare

입법 없이 훈령으로 신설…올해 정기국회 전 완료 예상

Expected to be completed before the regular session of the National Assembly this year.

 

The work of establishing a pan-governmental control tower dedicated to fostering Korea’s biopharmaceutical and healthcare industries has entered the countdown.

 

The Ministry of Health and Welfare, along with the Office of the Prime Minister, plans to revise the order for the establishment of the Biohealth Innovation Committee in the near future.

 

Although the specific schedule has not been disclosed to the outside world, the National Assembly and the pharmaceutical industry expect that the order will be completed by the time the regular National Assembly opens this year in September and October.

 

On the 2nd, an official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare explained, "We plan to complete the establishment of the Biohealth Innovation Committee as soon as possible through the revision of the directive rather than legislation." The domestic pharmaceutical industry, led by the Korea Pharmaceutical Bio Association, has repeatedly requested the government to establish a Pharmaceutical Bio Innovation Committee directly under the President's Office.

 

During the presidential election, President Yoon Seok-yeol pledged to become a member of the Pharmaceutical and Bio-Innovation Committee directly under the president, and after the inauguration of the new government, he put forward a plan to establish a new organization under the Prime Minister.

 

Jeong-suk Seo also proposed a bill that the Pharmaceutical Bio Innovation Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, serves as an industrial control tower.

 

However, the establishment of the Biopharmaceutical Innovation Committee is promoted not by legislation, but by the revision of the Prime Minister's Office order, and the scope was also determined to target the 'bio health' industry, not just the 'pharmaceutical bio' industry.

 

Accordingly, the name of the organization to be established by the revision of the directive is also expected to be the Biohealth Innovation Committee.

 

This is in line with the attitude the Ministry of Health and Welfare showed in the process of reviewing the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee's proposal for Seo Jeong-sook.

 

At the time, the Ministry of Health and Welfare expressed the view that an organization was needed to nurture a wider range of areas, such as medical devices and digital healthcare, in addition to the biopharmaceutical industry, regarding the provision of 'upgrading under the Prime Minister's Office of the Pharmaceutical and Bio-Industry Innovation Committee' contained in the bill of Congressman Seo Jung-sook.

 

The external and internal structure of the BioHealth Innovation Committee, which will be newly organized by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, can be predicted in detail only when the revised order is released.

 

An official from the National Assembly's Welfare Committee said, "The Ministry of Health and Welfare has expressed its position to create a biopharmaceutical innovation committee by revising the Prime Minister's Office directive without legislation, and the outline will be revealed sooner or later." It may not be necessary, but it remains to be seen whether the effectiveness will be equal."