President Moon declares national vision for biohealth..."tripling global share" 

-The ninth leg of the nationwide economic tour...just over a month after visiting Gangwon Province

-"50 billion dollars in exports, 6% market share, 5 major export industries"

-Visiting the booth of serum-free chemical composition medium "Premonition of success, premonition of jackpot"

-300 people including Noh Young-min, Hong Nam-ki, and Young-min attended...Celltrion Chairman also attended

On a visit to North Chungcheong Province, President Moon Jae-in declared his vision to strategically foster the biohealth industry as the next major sector to lead Korea.

Moon attended the 'National Vision Proclamation Ceremony for Biohealth' in Osong, Chungcheongbuk-do, where a specialized complex for the bio- and healthcare industry was created earlier in the day.

Biohealth is a promising field that has been selected as one of the country's three future new growth engines, along with future automobiles and non-memory semiconductors, and is being intensively fostered. Currently, it is expanding significantly from the traditional fields of pharmaceuticals and medical care to the ICT (information and communication technology) field centered on the general public. 

President Moon attended the 'System Semiconductor Vision Proclamation Ceremony' held at the Samsung Electronics factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do on March 30, where he expressed his ambition to become a semiconductor powerhouse. The next declaration is in the area of futuristic automobiles.

At the proclamation ceremony, Moon vowed to challenge the "world's best" in bio-health and pledged the government's full policy support. 

In his congratulatory remarks, Moon said, "Now is the best time for us to take the lead in the biohealth global market." "The time is not far off when the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries will lead our economy," he said.

"Our government has designated the biohealth industry as one of the three new industries, and venture start-ups and investments have been increasing significantly recently," he said. "By 2030, we aim to achieve a 6% share of the global market for pharmaceuticals and medical devices, $50 billion in exports, and five major export industries." Considering that the global market share of pharmaceutical and medical devices is 1.8% this year, President Moon's target is more than tripled by 2030. 

He then directly proposed a policy alternative for the biohealth industry centered on pharma and bio.

"The government will provide sufficient support for the private sector to exercise entrepreneurship," Moon said, emphasizing that "we will do our best to create an innovation ecosystem throughout the entire growth cycle, from technology development to licensing, production, and market launch, so that mid-sized companies and small and medium-sized venture companies in particular can stand out as the main players in the industry."

 He mentioned strategies for creating a full-cycle innovation ecosystem from technology development to licensing, production, and market launch, including utilizing big data, expanding policy finance investment and R&D, and rationalizing regulations at the global level.

In particular, he promised to "expand government R&D to more than KRW 4 trillion per year by 2025 and invest more than KRW 2 trillion in the biohealth sector over the next five years through a dedicated scale-up fund so that technology development does not stop due to lack of funds." He also promised to "increase tax benefits for companies' R&D investment and facility investment costs."

"We will leverage our data strengths to develop innovative new drugs," he said. "We will build five big data platforms and foster hospitals as ecosystem innovation bases so that our medical institutions with top-notch technology can become outposts for future medical technology research and technology commercialization."

The focus on biohealth is in line with the Moon Jae-in administration's policy philosophy of an innovative and inclusive nation. President Moon recognizes that biohealth is a field directly related to people's lives, and that innovative new drug development and medical technology research will lead to economic vitality.

At a time when the country needs a new engine for economic growth in the third year of his administration, the vision proclamation ceremony is interpreted as an opportunity to make a breakthrough and show his will to accelerate the growth rate of the bio industry.

Prior to the vision declaration ceremony, Moon visited exhibition booths displaying biopharmaceuticals and medical devices in front of the venue. After watching a video on Excelsior Pharmaceuticals' serum-free chemical composition medium for stem cell culture, Moon expressed his excitement, saying, "I feel a sense of success, a sense of a jackpot."

The government plans to build a national bio big data system of 1 million patients to identify the causes of genetic diseases and utilize it for research and development of new medical technologies. In addition, the government's R&D investment to develop innovative new drugs and medical devices will increase to more than 4 trillion won per year by 2025.

This visit is part of the 'Regional Economic Tour' that has been promoted since the second half of last year, and is the ninth regional visit following ▲ Gunsan, Jeonbuk (October 30), Pohang, Gyeongbuk (November 8), Changwon, Gyeongnam (December 13), Ulsan, Gyeongnam (December 17), Daejeon, Chungnam (January 24), Busan (February 13), Daegu (March 22), and Gangwon (April 26). The visit to Gangwon came just over a month after the regional economic event.

More than 300 people attended the event. From the government, Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, Yoo Young-min, Minister of Science and ICT, Sung Yun-mo, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, Park Eung-hoo, Minister of Bokgeon Welfare, Park Young-seon, Minister of SMEs and Startups, Lee Yi-kyung, Minister of Food and Drug Safety, Park Won-joo, Director General of the Korea Intellectual Property Office, Jung Eun-kyung, and Jang Byung-kyu, Chairman of the 4th Industrial Revolution. From the Cheong Wa Dae, Chief of Staff Noh Young-min, Policy Chief Kim Soo-hyun, Economic Minister Yoon Jong-won, and Social Minister Kim Yeon-myung attended.

Won Hee-mok, president of the Korea Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Association, Kang Seok-hee, president of the Korea Biopharmaceutical Association, Seo Jeong-sun, president of the Korea Bio Association, Jeon Sang-hoon, president of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, and Seo Jeong-jin, chairman of Celltrion, were also present.

source : https://newsis.com/view/?id=NISX20190522_0000658423&cID=10301&pID=10300