Biohealth exports to reach $44.7 billion by 2027... 'Basic Plan for Fostering Healthcare Technology' finalized

Development of Vaccines and Therapeutics Within 100 Days During Infectious Disease Outbreaks
Promotion of Technology Development for Cardiovascular, Cancer, and Dementia
Acceleration of Digital Healthcare Industry Growth

The government will establish a support system capable of developing vaccines and treatments within 100 days in the event of an outbreak of new infectious diseases that threaten health security. It will strengthen the development of new technologies to protect the public from major diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, cancer, and dementia, and expand support for the digital healthcare industry, which has emerged as a new growth engine, as well as global new drug development. Based on this, the goal is to increase biohealth exports to $44.7 billion in four years.

New Drug Development. [Image Source=Pixabay]

On the 19th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare finalized and announced the "3rd Basic Plan for Fostering Health and Medical Technology (2023-2027)" after deliberation and resolution at the 3rd review meeting of the National Science and Technology Advisory Council. The Basic Plan for Fostering Health and Medical Technology is a comprehensive cross-ministerial plan established every five years. This plan is composed of four major strategies, 14 key tasks, and 46 detailed tasks with the vision of "Realizing a Healthy Healthcare 4.0 Era for All Citizens," aiming to improve health and medical technology, establish a response system within 100 days in health security crises, and expand biohealth exports.

To this end, investment in technology development to protect the health and lives of the public will be strengthened first. Support will be provided for the development of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment technologies in the fields of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, emergency care, and critical care, as well as early diagnosis and treatment technologies to overcome infertility and improve the survival rate of newborn patients. Additionally, plans include securing diagnostic and treatment technologies for high-risk diseases such as cancer and dementia to improve the lives of patients and their families. In particular, efforts will be accelerated to develop low-cost, minimally invasive, and high-precision early diagnostic methods for dementia based on blood, body fluids, and imaging diagnostics.

To establish health security, which has become important due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an environment will also be created to enable early development of vaccines and treatments. Efforts will be made to secure original technologies such as mRNA and universal vaccine platforms, and a stepwise support system from preclinical to clinical trials and approval will be established to develop technologies capable of responding to health crises. There are also plans to invest intensively in securing capabilities such as developing antiviral treatments that act on common viral infection mechanisms and building a library of candidate substances for treatments of new and mutant infectious diseases.

Scenario of Korea's capabilities depending on the continuation of investment in health and medical technology. [Data provided by the Ministry of Health and Welfare]

Technology development to expand future growth engines, such as digital healthcare based on data and artificial intelligence (AI) and strengthening competitiveness in global new drug development, will also be expanded. Support will be provided for empirical research using real-world medical data, and a database will be established for the rapid commercialization of human microbiome-based diagnostic and treatment technologies, which have recently attracted attention. In addition to building platforms for AI drug development, the designation of clinical research institutions and the expansion of clinical research subjects to increase opportunities for advanced regenerative medical treatments will also be considered.

The plan also includes creating a research and development (R&D) ecosystem that promotes innovation. Translational and clinical research will be expanded to meet unmet medical needs, and consulting and performance-linked support will be provided to promote the commercialization of R&D outcomes. To activate private-led innovation, regulatory rationalization and support for licensing and registration procedures will be provided, while continuous investment will be made in human resources such as industry-academia-research-hospital experts and physician-scientists who lead competitiveness in the biohealth field.

Through this, the government presented a blueprint to raise Korea’s health and medical technology level from 79.4% of the top technology countries last year to 82.0% by 2027, and to nearly double biohealth exports from $24.2 billion last year to $44.7 billion in four years.

Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare, said, "The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized not only the industrial importance of health and medical technology but also the role of health security to protect our citizens from risks more than ever before. We will focus our policy capabilities to realize diverse and creative ideas through health and medical R&D, protect the lives and health of the people, and establish the biohealth industry as a core foundation."

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