President Moon: "Developing COVID-19 Treatments and Vaccines is a Mountain We Must Overcome... Significant Progress Made"

'Joint Meeting of Industry, Academia, Research Institutes, and Hospitals for COVID-19 Therapeutics and Vaccine Development'... Government Invests 210 Billion KRW in COVID-19 Vaccine Development

President Moon Jae-in is speaking at the joint meeting of industry, academia, research institutes, and medical sectors for the development of COVID-19 treatments and vaccines, held on the morning of the 9th at the Korea Pasteur Institute in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] President Moon Jae-in said on the 9th, "Therapeutics and vaccines are mountains that must be overcome for the complete conquest of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19)," adding, "I understand that several biopharmaceutical companies are devoting great efforts to developing new therapeutics and that significant progress has been made."

President Moon attended the 'COVID-19 Therapeutics and Vaccine Development Industry-Academia-Research-Hospital Joint Meeting' held at the Korea Pasteur Institute in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, in the morning, stating, "Not only our people but the entire world is desperately waiting for COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccines," and added, "Just as we became a model country in quarantine, I hope we become a leading nation in therapeutics and vaccine development, giving courage and confidence to our people and hope to the weakened economy." Experts from private bio companies, academia, research institutes, and the medical community involved in COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccine development attended the meeting.

The Korea Pasteur Institute, where the meeting was held, is searching for therapeutics effective against COVID-19 among existing approved drugs. President Moon explained, "Using artificial intelligence (AI) methods, within two months, we narrowed down about 1,500 types to around 20 candidate substances and have begun clinical trials on excellent drugs," adding, "This is a stage where corporate research institutes and medical institutions are working together to test the effectiveness of medicines."

President Moon said, "Upon arriving here, I heard hopeful news that our country's therapeutics and vaccine development are at a globally excellent level and leading," and added, "Just as our diagnostic technology became a global model, I hope our therapeutics and vaccines can save human lives."

He also expressed the government's full support for vaccine development. President Moon emphasized, "Developing vaccines and therapeutics for infectious diseases requires a long time and enormous costs, so it is difficult to achieve results in a short period solely through private efforts," and said, "We will invest 210 billion won in COVID-19 vaccine development and enhance the competitiveness of therapeutics and vaccine industries starting with R&D investment in therapeutics development reflected in the supplementary budget and the establishment of a novel virus research institute."

In particular, he stated, "R&D investment and shortened approval procedures by the government must support this to accelerate further," and added, "We plan to introduce rapid clinical approval procedures prioritizing public safety and will provide resources necessary for therapeutics and vaccine development, such as samples from infected patients and blood from recovered patients." Furthermore, he said, "Solidarity and cooperation with the international community are also important," and added, "We will actively participate in the international community's efforts to overcome COVID-19 through collaborative systems led by organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN)."

President Moon addressed the meeting participants, saying, "The government will do its utmost to help you devote yourselves to research and development, as this is the way to save the lives of our people and humanity," and reiterated, "At this moment, humanity's greatest task is the development of therapeutics and vaccines for the complete conquest of COVID-19."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.