Bio-Health Innovation Committee Held... Prime Minister Kim Minseok Vows Efforts for R&D Investment and Regulatory Improvement

On the afternoon of August 5, the government held the 7th Bio-Health Innovation Committee meeting at the Government Complex Seoul to discuss policy improvement measures.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Kim Minseok stated, "As Korea's bio-health sector shows high growth potential, we will pay special attention to revitalizing investment in healthcare research and development (R&D), improving regulations, and thoroughly reviewing and reflecting the needs from the field."

Prime Minister Minseok Kim is attending and speaking at the appointment ceremony and meeting of the Itaewon Disaster Memorial Committee held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on August 4, 2025. Photo by Yongjun Cho

He added, "Through continuous public-private cooperation, we will select key agendas for the advancement of the bio-health sector, such as artificial intelligence (AI), data sharing, and regulatory transparency, in order to achieve results quickly. We will also proceed with discussions on establishing efficient governance."

The meeting participants discussed additional improvement measures for six key regulatory reform tasks selected from those reviewed by each ministry. The government plans to consider creating a specialized fund for phase 3 clinical trial companies holding innovative drug candidates, and will disclose the criteria for drug price increases within this year to improve the pricing standards for essential medicines used in patient care.

Plans are also in place to expand tailored cost support in response to strengthened regulations in advanced countries, operate online sales platforms to support overseas expansion of small and medium-sized cosmetics companies, expand support for global expert networks and information provision, and improve the cost calculation method for exit-prevention medicines.

The meeting also reviewed the progress of the 'Pandemic Preparedness Messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) Vaccine Development Support Project.' The results of the review of reform tasks reported at the meeting will be disclosed after further discussions by the relevant ministries and expert advisory panels.