500 billion won fund by the end of this year

BioHealth starts 'fostering new industries'

Government announces 'Bio Health Industry Innovation Plan'

Public-private partnerships to develop blockbuster vaccines and treatments.

 

The government will focus on supporting vaccines and treatments for infectious diseases under development by domestic bio-health companies.

 

It plans to fully support vaccine candidate materials for diseases such as COVID-19 and core technologies for responding to infectious diseases, and strengthen licensing, location, and foundation support, tax deduction and financial support to revitalize private investment in biohealth.

 

It will also expand public-private investments such as K-bio and vaccine funds, and will create a joint public-private fund worth 500 billion won within this year and pay a total of 2.2 trillion won in R&D expenses for new drug pipelines.

 

The MOHW discussed the "BioHealth Industry Innovation Plan" at the 4th Emergency Economic People's Assembly presided over by President Yoon Seok-yeol on the morning of the 27th.

 

The MOHW diagnosed that Korea's investment in vaccine and treatment development support is limited compared to other developed countries.

 

Compared to AstraZeneca's development of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments with 2 trillion won, 1.9 trillion won for Novavax, and 550 billion won for Janssen, Korea spent only 257.5 billion won for vaccines and 155.2 billion won for treatments.

 

The MOHW decided to continue to support the development of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments from 17 companies under clinical trials in six domestic companies.

 

It helps Korea's No.

 

1 vaccine to enter the global market by passing the pre-qualification examination by the WHO and confirming the efficacy of additional vaccinations.

 

After securing core technologies by researching and developing vaccine candidate materials for COVID-19 as well as candidates for infectious diseases such as MERS and Zika virus, it supports rapid development of vaccines in case of crisis.

 

In order to revitalize private investment worth 13 trillion won by 2026, including Samsung Biologics, Lotte Biologics, SK Bioscience, and EuBiologics, it will also provide support at the level of ministries.

 

It will closely support licensing, location, and foundation creation, and quickly strengthen tax deductions, financial and policy funding support for each major related institution, and expansion of support limits.

 

In a recently announced tax reform plan to promote investment in vaccines, the deduction rate for investment in national strategic technology facilities of large companies was raised from 6% to 8%.

 

In order to develop innovative new drugs and secure vaccine autonomy, it will create a private joint "K-Bio and Vaccine Fund" worth 500 billion won that invests in pharmaceutical and bio companies within this year, and expand it to 1 trillion won in the future.

 

It has also decided to provide 2.2 trillion won in research and development expenses, including 1.5 trillion won in state funds, to new drug pipelines that have entered the second phase of clinical trials in discovering effective substances.

 

Regulatory innovation will also be carried out.

 

Innovative medical devices such as AI and digital will be improved so that they can be used as non-reimbursement or Medical Benefits after licensing.

 

In the case of innovative medical devices, the evaluation period required for them to be put into the medical field after minimum administrative measures after licensing will be drastically reduced from 390 days to 80 days.

 

It will fully redesign regulatory systems suitable for high-tech product characteristics such as digital and high-tech bio to closely support entry into the global market, and establish a biohealth-specific regulatory sandbox that reflects the specificity of innovative technologies and services.

 

Lee Ki-il, the second vice minister of the MOHW, said, "We will present a roadmap for bio-health regulatory innovation and actively resolve difficulties through continuous communication with the industry."