Ministry of Health and Welfare and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Hold Council Meeting for Localization of Bio and Vaccine Materials and Components

7 Companies Demanding Materials, Parts, and Equipment, 13 Companies Supplying Participate

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] On the 31st, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that they will hold a meeting of the bio sector 소재·부품·장비 (materials, parts, and equipment) cooperation council.

In this meeting, they will review the localization achievements of 소재·부품·장비 in the bio sector and discuss cases of win-win cooperation between demand and supply companies as well as measures to promote localization.

Seven 소재·부품·장비 demand companies, including the Korea Bio Association, Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association, Celltrion, SK Bioscience, and Samsung Biologics, and 13 supply companies such as LMS, Jeonghyun Plant, and ST Pharm will participate.

The government is focusing on attracting investment from global raw material companies and localizing core item technologies. The council serves as a public-private cooperation platform for the localization of bio 소재·부품·장비.

Celltrion, which will present the current status and plans for win-win cooperation on this day, is providing R&D consulting to domestic small and medium enterprises to localize 소재·부품·장비 necessary for biopharmaceutical production.

소재·부품·장비 companies will present localization achievements in some items. ST Pharm has secured production facilities capable of producing messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine raw materials to finished products, the first domestic company to do so.

Jeonghyun Plant plans to manufacture 'bioreactor tanks' for culturing cells and microorganisms and supply them to Samsung Biologics.

The Korea Bio Association plans to propose incentives such as tax support and regulatory agency approval support to accelerate technological independence of bio 소재·부품·장비 based on a corporate demand survey at the meeting.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Health and Welfare stated that they have prepared the 'Bio and Vaccine 소재·부품·장비 Win-Win Cooperation Promotion Plan' and will share and discuss it with companies at the next meeting.