The Ministry of Health and Welfare demonstrates the achievements made by domestic healthcare industries, at the “2017 Health Industry Technology Commercialization and Innovative Start-up Achievement Exchange Meeting,” which opened Thursday for a two-day run.

It cited as significant achievements newly developed domestic drugs and the transfer of technology from the technology licensing office (TLO). TLO is an organization that transfers technology and patents owned by hospitals and laboratories to companies and supports technical marketing.

This year the TLO helped transfer a total of 405 technologies from hospitals and laboratories to businesses. The process has generated over 44.2 billion won ($39.9 million) in revenue and has provided future investment in research and development (R&D).

Regarding new drug development, Korea has increased the number of new drugs domestically developed from 27 to 29.

Also, domestic biopharmaceutical companies succeeded in obtaining sales approval for four biosimilars and one biomedicine from the EU and U.S.

The medical device industry, too, recorded notable developments as domestic products were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or Brazil’s National Sanitary Surveillance Agency (ANVISA).

“The health industry is the most effective sector to achieve the government’s goals in innovative growth and job creation,” Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo 박능후 said. “The development of the industry will also lead to the promotion of public health.”

The ministry 보건복지부 plans to create an innovative start-up ecosystem, in which creative ideas and medical field experiences can lead to technology commercialization and new start-ups, Park added.

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