Choi Ki-young: "COVID-19 Treatment Will Be Securely Obtained This Year"

Minister Choi Ki-young of the Ministry of Science and ICT is holding a briefing on leading the digital transformation after COVID-19 under the Digital New Deal at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 15th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Chae-eun] Choi Ki-young, Minister of Science and ICT (photo), said on the 2nd regarding the treatment for the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), "We are currently trying to secure it firmly within this year."

Minister Choi appeared at the plenary meeting of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee on the same day and responded to independent lawmaker Yang Jeong-sook's question, "When will the (COVID-19) treatment be developed?" by saying, "I think the fastest way to obtain a treatment now is through drug repositioning."

In particular, Minister Choi said, "I think new drug development will probably take a very long time," and added, "Several candidate substances are currently emerging through the drug repositioning method." He explained, "However, clinical trials must be conducted. Since the target disease is different, there is the difficulty of additional time required for clinical trials." Regarding the establishment of the Virus Basic Research Institute, he added, "The budget for next year has been prepared, and we will try to achieve some helpful results by around the second half of next year."

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