The government said it would spend 262.7 billion won ($237.1 million) to support the development of local Covid-19 treatment and vaccines actively.
On Friday, the government held the ninth meeting of the pan-government support committee to develop treatments and vaccines against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The meeting involved discussions over the national strategy to support Covid-19 treatments and vaccines in 2021 and develop mobile negative-pressure wards and commercialize them early.
Minister of Health and Welfare Kwon Deok-cheol, Minister of Science and ICT Choi Ki-young, Minister of Food and Drug Safety Kim Gang-lip, related vice ministers, and health experts attended the meeting.
During the meeting, the government decided to prepare a portfolio development strategy for new Covid-19 drug candidates that can treat Covid-19 from mild to severe ones and give active support for strategic items that near phase-3 trials.
The government said it would particularly focus on helping companies secure convenient oral treatments or therapies for severely ill Covid-19 patients.
To make it possible to roll out locally developed Covid-19 vaccines next year, the government will select treatment candidates with the potential to enter clinical trials such as synthetic antigen vaccines as key items and provide intensive support for them.
Domestic companies have said that the largest stumbling block in the development of Covid-19 treatments and vaccines was the high cost of clinical trials. To help relieve such a burden, the government said it would spend about 130 billion budget this year and push for support through funds.
To resolve the difficulty in recruiting patients, the government will utilize a clinical trial consultation center for overseas studies to help companies design clinical trials and establish strategies.
To ensure that Covid-19 treatments quickly reach patients amid the ongoing pandemic, the government will conduct a state-led rapid clinical trial in the first half of 2021, it said. The government will also actively grant compassionate use of unauthorized drugs for therapeutic purposes and approval for investigator-initiated clinical trials.
The food and drug safety ministry will establish a separate unit to quickly and safely give the permit and export approval for Covid-19 treatments and vaccines.
Along with the support for local treatments and vaccines, the government will also monitor foreign therapies and vaccines to purchase them after consulting with experts when necessary.
The government also decided to help innovative products such as rapid diagnostic kits and mobile negative-pressure wards commercialize early so that clinicians can use them immediately.
To stabilize the supply and demand of medical equipment in preparation for an infectious disease crisis, the government will come up with a new management system to store up essential medical equipment preemptively and use them efficiently.
The government’s plan also includes support for R&D, verification, and education to upgrade and commercialize 11 key items, including diagnostic devices.
The 262.7 billion won allocated for Covid-19 treatments and vaccines in 2021 is an increase of 44.1 billion won or a 20 percent rise from the 2020 budget.
More specifically, the government will use 152.8 billion won to enhance clinical and preclinical trials for the successful development of Covid-19 treatments and vaccines.
It will support 56.4 billion won to establish labs and facilities, and 34.5 billion won to develop next-generation infectious disease equipment and devices such as rapid testing and intelligence devices.
The government will use another 19 billion won to strengthen basic research such as developing key technologies to fight infectious diseases and evaluating studies to support approval.
By collaborating with related agencies, the government also aims to advance the commercialization of mobile negative-pressure wards where patients with a moderate or severe infectious disease can be treated.
To do so, KAIST has gathered scholars, researchers, and industry officials to develop a mobile negative-pressure ward and installed a prototype in the Korea Institute of Radiological & Medical Sciences in Seoul.
Utilizing the Korean Intellectual Property Office's fast-track review policy, KAIST said it has completed registering the patent of the negative-pressure ward in just one month.
Working with the health and welfare ministry, it will run a pilot test in real patients and seek the Public Procurement Service’s designation of innovative pilot product to supply them widely.
Minister of Health and Welfare Kwon Deok-cheol said, “Even though we will start Covid-19 vaccination soon, we have to secure our capacity to prepare new infectious diseases in the long-term.”