The government said it would start a massive investment in vaccine and bio-related raw and subsidiary materials businesses to make them the nation’s key industry like semiconductors.
Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum presided over a meeting of the Second Global Vaccine Hub Preparatory Committee on Tuesday.
The meeting aimed to check the progress of the government’s policy to make the nation a global vaccine hub, announced in August, and discuss detailed plans by sector.
government will support the consignment production of vaccines or self-produced vaccines for companies that lack investment funds. To do so, the government decided to utilize 18 billion won secured by 2021 extra budget and picked 14 companies for support.
Among the 14 companies, nine are vaccine makers (ST Pharm, Quratis, BMI Korea, Hanmi Pharmaceutical, HK Bio-Innovation, CdmoGen, Humedix, Jetema, and Boran Pharma), and five raw material firms (Hanmi Fine Chemical, Amicogen, LMS, Cellid, and Ecell).
The government will complete giving subsidies by the end of this year, closely monitor the progress of funding at each company, and provide timely support if the company faces difficulties in the funding process.
Also, the government plans to support vaccine and raw material companies that vowed to invest 6.3 trillion won ($5.3 billion) in facilities by 2024 to nurture them as the key industry.
The government said it would provide a vaccine industry-friendly environment and boldly revise unreasonable regulations. In addition, the government said that the intensive nurturing of the vaccine industry would lead to active investment in the overall biopharmaceutical sector.
Within the Global Vaccine Hub Preparatory Committee, the government will establish an “analysis and patent team” to help vaccine makers deal with global patent issues.
The government will make patent analysis reports and customized patent strategies for each company to prevent overlapping development of technologies and raise efficiency for vaccine and raw material companies.
Also, the government will provide guidelines for optimal technology protection, including intellectual property/trade secret combination strategy (IP Mix) related to domestic vaccines and customized solutions for international IP disputes for exporters of vaccines and raw materials.
The government will utilize public GMP manufacturing sites to support the commercialization of vaccines for companies that do not have their facilities.
At the meeting, the government also discussed the progress of the WHO Global Vaccine/Bio Human Resources Hub and planned to enhance international cooperation to make Korea a global vaccine hub.
Before the meeting, the government signed a memorandum of understanding with German company Sartorius for investment in Korea.
Under the MOU, Sartorius said it would invest $300 million in raw and subsidiary materials for vaccine manufacturing in Songdo, Incheon, for the next three years.