The Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association (KPBMA) has vowed to focus on building an ecosystem to create new blockbuster drugs and enhance industrial competitiveness this year.

At its general meeting on Tuesday, the association finalized its business plan, composed of 16 core tasks under four primary promotion strategies to “establish pharmaceutical sovereignty and build open innovation ecosystem.” It also approved a budget of 8.5 billion won ($6.5 million) to turn these goals into reality.

More specifically, KPBMA decided to establish a strategic R&D investment system to build an ecosystem for creating blockbuster new drugs. It also plans to raise the self-sufficiency rate of pharmaceutical products by strengthening the development and manufacturing bases of materials, essential drugs, and vaccines and innovating generic drugs’ quality and manufacturing process.

Regarding the support for overseas advances, the association will accelerate advances to developed markets like the U.S. and Europe and emerging markets of Asia and Latin America. Besides, the industry group decided to respond to the paradigm shift marked by the industry’s digital conversion and convergence.

“Biopharmaceutical industry has firmly taken its place as the future growth engine of the nation,” KPBMA Chairman Won Hee-mok said. “Signs of hope are seen in various areas, including the technology experts of new drugs, improved capability to develop blockbuster new drugs, and advances to industrial markets.”

Emphasizing the need to speed up overseas advances and strengthen industrial competitiveness to establish pharmaceutical sovereignty, Won said, “All-round, open innovation should be the motor that pushes this drive.”

Ildong Foodis Chairman Lee Geum-ki received the grand prize, the fourth such annual award jointly conferred by KPBMA and two other related associations during the general meeting for contributing to the development of vitamin products, anticancer drugs, and localizing antibiotics.