Public and Private Sectors Collaborate to Drive Innovative Growth in Advanced Regenerative Medicine Industry

Ministry of SMEs and Startups, MFDS, Startups, and Experts Gather
Discussing Legal and Institutional Improvements for the Advanced Regenerative Medicine Industry

The government and advanced regenerative medicine startups shared on-site difficulties and put their heads together for the development of the advanced regenerative medicine industry.

On the 27th, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it held a public-private joint forum with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and others, where startups in the advanced regenerative medicine industry participated to identify related regulations and discuss improvement measures.

A panel discussion is underway at the 'Advanced Regenerative Medicine Development Forum' held at D.CAMP in Seoul on the 26th. (Photo by Ministry of SMEs and Startups)

This forum was held to create a communication platform where new industry startups could convey their on-site difficulties to the government in line with the development of a new industrial ecosystem, and to seek solutions together with the government and experts.

In particular, five organizations?Venture Business Association, Korea Startup Forum, Startup Alliance, Asan Nanum Foundation, and Banks Foundation for Young Entrepreneurs (D.CAMP)?which are key players in the venture and startup ecosystem, participated as co-hosting organizations, selecting topics that reflect on-site demands. The forum is planned to be held regularly every month.

At this first forum, discussions were held on improvement tasks for the development of the advanced regenerative medicine industry in cooperation with the Advanced Regenerative Medicine Industry Association.

At the forum, Hwang Yu-kyung, CEO of CTX, presented on "Future Tasks for the Development of the Advanced Regenerative Medicine Industry." CEO Hwang stated, “It is necessary for clinical research and clinical trials to be mutually linked so that advanced regenerative medicine can lead to the development of advanced biopharmaceuticals.”

She continued, “Clear standards for safety and efficacy evaluation and principles for pricing must be presented with the introduction of advanced regenerative medicine therapeutics, and regulations should be relaxed to make the production and sales process of advanced regenerative medicine products more flexible.”

Park So-ra, Director of the Regenerative Medicine Promotion Foundation, said, “Through the amendment of the Advanced Regenerative Bio Act, the scope of clinical research subjects, which was previously limited, is expected to expand, and opportunities for regenerative medicine patient treatment will also increase. We hope that the domestic advanced regenerative medicine industry can take a global leap forward through institutional linkage that allows the results of advanced regenerative medicine clinical research and advanced biopharmaceutical clinical trials to be mutually utilized.”

Joo Ji-hyun, CEO of Upsell, who participated in the panel discussion, argued, “Startups that are economically vulnerable have their survival directly linked to achieving goals in the clinical research process, so it is necessary to build infrastructure that enables close and continuous communication with clinical research approval agencies.”

Lee Min-woo, CEO of Dusel Biotherapeutics, said, “I want to develop new technologies that greatly help essential medical care using advanced technologies such as artificial platelets,” adding, “For the initially developed technology to be recognized as the best technology, its usability and potential need to be more acknowledged, so I hope the relevant ministries will view it more flexibly and broadly.”

Lim Jung-wook, Director of the Startup Venture Innovation Office, stated, “The advanced regenerative medicine industry is attracting attention as one of the core technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and can be a future growth engine for our country, but it is still in the early stages and there are many legal and institutional challenges to be addressed,” adding, “We will thoroughly follow up by researching improvement measures for the issues raised today and continuously consulting with the relevant ministries so that this event does not end as a one-time occasion where ventures and startups only voice difficulties.”