Announcement of National Tasks in the Biohealth Sector
"Big Data Opening, Strengthening Legal Grounds to Prevent Privacy Invasion Concerns"
[Asia Economy Reporters Kim Hyemin and Moon Jewon] The Presidential Transition Committee (PTC) has proposed the establishment of a 'Pharmaceutical Bio Innovation Committee' as a national agenda for the new government's biohealth sector. The plan includes opening medical data of one million people to the private sector to support medical technology development while strengthening legal grounds to prevent privacy infringement concerns.
On the afternoon of the 25th, Baek Kyung-ran, a member of the PTC's Social Welfare and Culture Subcommittee, announced the new government's biohealth sector policy at the PTC office in Tongui-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
Baek stated, "The Yoon Seok-yeol administration recognizes the biohealth sector as one of the future growth industries," adding, "We are establishing national agendas with the goal of making it a leading field and ushering in a 'Biohealth Korean Wave era.'"
The PTC decided to first establish the Pharmaceutical Bio Innovation Committee to support biohealth companies. Baek explained, "This is to strengthen biohealth governance by fostering cooperation among basic research, hospitals, and companies, and by gathering wisdom from related ministries." She added, "It has not yet been decided whether the Innovation Committee will be directly under the President or the Prime Minister, but it will be composed of private experts and developed into a committee that can expedite research and development (R&D)."
To enable the pharmaceutical industry to develop innovative new drugs beyond technology exports, a global mega fund will also be created to provide support. Core personnel such as physician-scientists and artificial intelligence (AI) specialists will be actively trained, and a 'Biohealth Specialized Regulatory Sandbox' will be operated to continuously improve regulations in the biohealth sector. Additionally, the government plans to promote the establishment of a global bio campus and pursue various international collaborations.
Fostering the digital healthcare industry is another key national agenda. Baek emphasized, "If Korea's excellent clinical capabilities, medical system, and world-class digital technology are well combined, Korean digital healthcare can unleash unlimited potential."
To this end, a bio big data set of one million people will be built and opened to the private sector. Im In-taek, a specialist member of the PTC's Social Welfare and Culture Subcommittee, said, "Since the amendment of the Personal Information Protection Act, big data use has already been permitted, but medical data is highly sensitive, so the extent to which it can be used is a social issue." He stressed, "We are formulating policies that balance data utilization and strengthening personal data protection." He further explained, "We plan to create a national agenda to strengthen security separately for medical data to ensure there is no risk of infringement."
The PTC will also build a disease clinical network involving major hospitals and strengthen support systems for research and development of digital healthcare products such as electronic drugs, digital therapeutics, and AI diagnostic aids.
A medical MyData platform will be actively established to consolidate scattered health information from medical institutions, the National Health Insurance Service, and insurance companies into one place. Furthermore, a system will be developed to provide differentiated support for areas directly related to health security, such as infectious diseases, and for fields requiring continuous support, such as rare and intractable diseases.
Baek said, "We will fundamentally reform the R&D system by minimizing administrative regulations such as the preliminary feasibility study system and establishing dedicated organizations to ensure rapid support," adding, "We will strive to make biohealth the 'second semiconductor' that leads economic growth and job creation."
Meanwhile, on the same day in the morning, President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol visited the headquarters of SK Bioscience, which is developing a COVID-19 vaccine, along with PTC Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo and members of the Social Welfare and Culture Subcommittee. Baek revealed that researchers and experts attending the meeting explained that the completion of Korea's first domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine is imminent.
He stated, "Today, there was an announcement on immunogenicity, showing it was about 2.2 times superior compared to the AstraZeneca vaccine, with results similar to Pfizer," adding, "The first domestic vaccine is expected to be approved in June."
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