[Exclusive] Ministry of Health and Welfare to Elevate Health Industry Policy Bureau to Office Level for Bio Sector Expansion

Bio-Healthcare Designated as a Future Strategic Industry by the New Administration
Request Submitted to National Policy Planning Committee to Expand Dedicated Department Amid Growing Importance of Sector

As the Lee Jaemyung administration has identified bio-healthcare as a future strategic industry and a key pillar for South Korea's growth, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is pushing to elevate its 'Health Industry Policy Bureau,' which oversees related policies, to a higher-level 'Office.'

According to government and ruling party sources on July 7, the Ministry of Health and Welfare recently requested the National Policy Planning Committee to reorganize the Health Industry Policy Bureau, currently under the Health and Medical Policy Office, into a new office-level department dedicated to the pharmaceutical and bio sectors, citing the need for a higher-level organization.

It has been reported that within the ministry, there is a growing view that the current bureau-level organization is insufficient, as the National Policy Planning Committee has set a goal to elevate South Korea's pharmaceutical and bio industry to the seventh-largest in the world. The importance and scope of related work are increasing, making the current structure inadequate.

To achieve its policy goals, the Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to reorganize its responsible departments for more agile responses. At the same time, the ministry intends to take the lead in driving policy initiatives while establishing new governance frameworks with related agencies and the industry, such as the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Korea Health Industry Development Institute.

Previously, the National Policy Planning Committee set the first goal of its bio-healthcare industry development policy as expanding the scale of the industry by fostering innovative pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturing companies. The committee also anticipated that the growth of these industries would enable a stable supply of essential medical services and medicines needed for public welfare in an aging society, ultimately contributing to the improvement of public health.

The establishment of a dedicated pharmaceutical and bio department within the Ministry of Health and Welfare has been discussed before. In particular, when the ministry introduced a dual vice-minister system in 2020, the first vice-minister oversaw the Planning and Coordination Office, Social Welfare Policy Office, and Population and Social Services Policy Office, while the second vice-minister was responsible only for the Health and Medical Policy Office, leading to calls for the addition of another office-level organization.

If the Health Industry Policy Bureau is expanded to an office-level organization, it is expected that policies and support functions for pharmaceutical, medical device, cosmetics, medical service, and advanced regenerative medicine sectors will be integrated into a single entity. There is also a high possibility that the role of the 'Biohealth Innovation Task Force,' which was launched under the previous administration to foster the pharmaceutical and bio industry but has since lost momentum, will be included.

A ruling party official stated, "There is consensus within both the presidential office and the political community that the pharmaceutical and bio sector is a future growth engine. Given the importance of the health industry and recent industrial changes, such as the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), the Ministry of Health and Welfare's organizational restructuring is a reasonable request and certainly worthy of thorough discussion."