Hong Nam-ki: "Proactively Securing Core Synthetic Biology Technologies like Artificial Cells... Establishing 'K-Biofoundry'"

Presiding over the 'Big 3 Innovation Growth Promotion Meeting' on the 8th

Establishing a 'Preclinical Ecosystem Development Plan' for Vaccine and New Drug Development

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance. (Photo by Ministry of Economy and Finance)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Hong Nam-ki announced on the 8th, "Under the goal of halving the production cost of bio-products and doubling the efficiency of innovative new drug material research and development (R&D), the government will establish a public 'K-Bio Foundry' led by the government."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong made this announcement while presiding over the 'Big 3 Innovation Growth Promotion Meeting' at the SK Bioscience site in Pangyo, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, on the morning of the same day. He focused on presenting innovation plans for the biohealth sector among the Big 3 industries: biohealth, future cars, and system semiconductors.

First, to maximize production capacity, he proposed a plan to foster the 'synthetic biology' ecosystem. The bioindustry is broadly divided into red (life safety net), green, and white (solving social issues such as climate change) industries. Synthetic biology technology is a 'game changer' that changes the landscape of all fields of red, green, and white bioindustries. It is a discipline that designs and manufactures components and systems of living organisms, including core technologies for artificial cell design and manufacturing, and innovative elements of biomanufacturing processes. The global market size in this field is expected to grow 11.2 times from $10.3 billion (approximately 12.3 trillion KRW) last year to $125.5 billion (approximately 149.8 trillion KRW) by 2030. The annual average growth rate is expected to be 28.4%.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong said, "The goal is to focus on fostering synthetic biology to halve the time and cost required for bio-product production and double the efficiency of innovative new drug material R&D," adding, "We will preemptively secure core synthetic biology technologies and establish a government-led public 'K-Bio Foundry' that automates and accelerates the entire process (D-B-T-L)." He also stated, "Regarding the foundry establishment, we plan to proceed with a preliminary feasibility study project worth 685.2 billion KRW by 2023," and "We will actively support ecosystem creation such as training experts in this field, supplementing legal systems like the Genetically Modified Organisms Act for technology utilization, as well as foundational product development and startup activation."

The government plans to institutionalize the vaccine preclinical support system as the 'Integrated Preclinical Trial System' (Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology) and promote the 'National Preclinical Support System Establishment Project' over five years from 2022 to 2026. From next year through 2023, additional research infrastructure such as the Virus Research Resource Center (5 BL3 labs + 4 ABL3 labs) and primate experimental facilities (4 ABL3 labs) will be established. Deputy Prime Minister Hong emphasized, "Through such support, we will provide customized one-stop preclinical services to bio venture companies, focusing on enabling early clinical entry of vaccine and new drug development candidate substances."

Furthermore, to enhance the export competitiveness of biopharmaceuticals, the customs clearance system will be reformed. This includes support for expedited customs clearance of pharmaceutical raw materials, adding biopharmaceutical clinical materials to bonded factory import items (expected to save 2 billion KRW annually per company), and providing pre-consultation support for the use of bonded factories.

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