Korea seeks to develop 2 blockbuster drugs worth $768 bil. by 2027

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, right, speaks during the inaugural meeting of the bio-health innovation committee at the Government Complex in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, Friday. Yonhap

The government will make efforts to assist domestic pharmaceuticals to develop at least two blockbuster novel drugs that can secure over 1 trillion won ($768 billion) in sales by 2027, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said, Friday.

The government set this goal during the inaugural meeting of its bio-health innovation committee.

"Countries around the world are already engaging in fierce competition to predominate the bio and healthcare markets,” Han said.

“Through the bio-health innovation committee, which is a private-public control tower, we will facilitate fundamental changes that can be felt by players in the field, so that the country can consolidate itself as a global powerhouse of the industries.”

Comprised of government agency chiefs and private sector experts, the committee is headed by Prime Minister Han, and Seoul National University Hospital President and CEO Kim Young-tae is the vice chairman.

During the committee meeting, members set a number of policy goals such as developing blockbuster drugs and doubling the country’s biotech and health care export.

For these goals, the committee decided to operate what it called “a Korean version of ARPA-H,” which will facilitate research and development projects worth 2 trillion won over the next decade.

Taking the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) as a reference, it will be working as a funding agency supporting efforts to overcome incurable diseases and address difficult welfare problems.

Also, the committee decided to run the Boston-Korea Project, which aims to connect Korean institutions with those based in Boston. Seoul’s health and welfare ministry, science and ICT ministry and industry ministry will join efforts for this 86.4 billion won project.

The committee also decided to step up efforts to nurture medical scientists to improve the country’s status. For this, it set up a goal of having at least 3 percent of medical school graduates as medical scientists, up from the current 1.6 percent.

“We will make systematic efforts to nurture medical scientists, expanding government support beyond doctoral programs to provide comprehensive support throughout their careers,” Han said. “We will also actively promote the mandatory employment of medical scientists within hospitals.”