[Hwasun=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Ji-woon] The 'Natural Medicine Raw Material Plant (mass production facility)' established in the Vaccine Industry Special Zone Biopharmaceutical Industrial Complex in Hwasun, Jeollanam-do, has officially begun operations.
The county announced on the 7th that after winning a public contest project in 2017 and 4 years and 4 months of construction, the Natural Medicine Raw Material Plant (hereafter Natural Plant) project has been completed.
The completion ceremony was held the day before, hosted by Hwasun County and Jeollanam-do, and organized by the Jeonnam Bio Industry Promotion Agency Natural Resources Research Center.
The plant, built as a single-story building with a floor area of 4,358㎡, includes a natural medicine raw material production building and a quality analysis room. It is equipped with 74 units of 49 types of production and quality analysis equipment.
The plant meets the international manufacturing and quality management standard cGMP level, and it is expected that domestic pharmaceutical companies' overseas expansion will become more active.
Pharmaceutical raw materials produced in domestic natural medicine manufacturing and quality management standard (KGMP) facilities have faced difficulties entering the global market.
Due to the increase in demand for therapeutic medicines caused by aging, relatively low toxicity compared to chemical medicines, safety, and the effects of reducing development costs and time, the natural medicine new drug market is showing growth.
For domestic companies to enter overseas markets, production must be carried out in cGMP-level facilities applied by advanced countries such as the United States. However, the costs required for individual companies to establish such facilities were burdensome.
Accordingly, domestic companies have been focusing only on domestic sales rather than the global market. The completion of the Vaccine Special Zone plant is a positive development for domestic companies.
Along with this, the county expects that research and development and product commercialization using regional resources from Jeonnam, the largest natural resource production area, will become active, creating new income sources for farmers.
To create such an ecosystem, Hwasun County, Jeonnam Province, and the Jeonnam Bio Industry Promotion Agency Natural Resources Research Center (hereafter Natural Resources Research Center) signed investment agreements and technology transfer agreements with related companies.
Jeollanam-do, Hwasun County, IC Bio Co., Ltd., and Jaimdang Bio Co., Ltd. signed an investment agreement the day before to mutually cooperate in developing health functional foods and natural medicine using Jeonnam's natural resources and developing income resources for farmers.
Jeollanam-do, the Natural Resources Research Center, Natural Story Co., Ltd., and Natural Endotech Co., Ltd. also signed a technology transfer agreement on the same day to transfer patents of specialty resources from the Natural Resources Research Center to companies.
The county has been promoting the project to establish a mass production facility for natural medicine raw materials meeting international standards since 2018, investing about 20 billion KRW with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and Jeonnam Province.
Additionally, it is striving to include the 'designation and maintenance of the National Advanced Medical Complex' focused on vaccines and immunotherapy, based on the Vaccine Special Zone, as a national agenda of the new government.
At the same time, it is accelerating the creation of the 2nd Biopharmaceutical Industrial Complex, covering 310,000㎡, with a target completion in 2024.
A county official said, "With the completion of the natural medicine raw material plant at international standard levels, we have established a one-stop infrastructure for natural medicine pharmaceuticals. If Hwasun becomes a genuine K-bio and vaccine hub, it will open a new path for the regional economy."
Hwasun=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Ji-woon rosaria0704@asiae.co.kr
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