MFDS "Strengthening Mutual Cooperation with KIPO in Pharmaceutical Approval and Intellectual Property Fields"

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 16th that it has renewed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korean Intellectual Property Office to strengthen mutual cooperation in the fields of pharmaceutical approval and intellectual property.

Oh Yu-kyung, Commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety [Photo by Yonhap News]

The two agencies first signed an MOU in 2014 and have since collaborated on improving the pharmaceutical approval-patent linkage system, sharing pharmaceutical approval and patent information, and supporting pharmaceutical companies.

The pharmaceutical approval-patent linkage system is a mechanism that considers patent infringement during the pharmaceutical approval stage and has been fully implemented since 2015 following the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Through the renewal of the agreement, the two agencies agreed to cooperate in areas such as exchanging information on patent term extensions related to pharmaceuticals, and providing policy advice in the fields of pharmaceutical approval and intellectual property rights.

The two agencies also plan to hold regular consultative meetings to implement the MOU.

Oh Yu-kyung, Commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, said, "We will do our best to support domestic pharmaceutical companies in securing competitiveness in the global market based on high-level pharmaceutical safety management and regulatory innovation grounded in expertise."

Lee In-sil, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, said, "The Korean Intellectual Property Office will continue to cooperate with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, engage in more active exchanges, and support pharmaceutical companies in securing key patents."

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