“The Corona 19 pandemic reminds us of the importance of a social safety net that protects the health and lives of the people. The solution to end the national crisis is the development of treatments and vaccines. We will responsibly carry out the development of therapeutics and vaccines, which is the responsibility of our industry, and make it a turning point in establishing pharmaceutical sovereignty.”
Hee-mok Won, chairman of the Korea Pharmaceutical Bio Association, emphasized this at the New Year press conference held on the 27th. This year’s New Year’s press conference was held online due to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19). President Won succeeded in extending his term for the second time according to the decision of the association’s chairpersons on the 19th.
At the press conference on that day, Chairman Won emphasized the establishment of’pharmaceutical sovereignty’ along with the development of COVID-19 treatment and vaccines.
Chairman Won said, “Pharmaceutical sovereignty is directly connected to the lives of the people. When the supply of pharmaceutical ingredients in India was shut down due to a global pandemic, the United States bought essential drugs. Medicines should always be in a state of self-sufficiency.”
In addition, Chairman Won announced four practical tasks such as ▲ strengthening health and security ▲ creating blockbusters ▲ accelerating global advancement ▲ industrial environment innovation.
Regarding health and security, Chairman Won can raise the self-sufficiency rate to 50% after 5 years by selecting 200 ingredients that are urgently localized out of 2,000 ingredients, considering that the self-sufficiency rate for drug substances is the record low (16%). It is planning to promote intensive development of drug substance.
Regarding this, Chairman Won said, “In order to produce a drug substance in Korea, it is necessary to consider the rather high cost problem. We believe that there is a need for a policy to preserve prices to some extent for raw materials of domestic origin.”
In addition, it has decided to revitalize the development of all-round open innovation and convergence and high-tech drugs to create new blockbuster drugs. While expanding the range of treatment options for people with rare and intractable diseases, the company decided to focus on the development of convergence and advanced medicines that create enormous added value.
Chairman Won said, “We will support the establishment of K-NIBRT (a bio-specialized manpower training institution).” “The proportion of biopharmaceuticals in the industry is increasing, but the number of biopharmaceutical specialists is small. “I have been in contact with the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) in Ireland for several years, asking for the establishment of a global branch in Korea and conducting training programs.”
In addition, in order to accelerate global advancement, the’Hankuk Pharmaceutical Bio Innovation Center’ (tentative name KPBIC) will be installed and operated in Boston, USA, and a second KPBIC will be installed in EU base countries. It decided to spur global open innovation by participating in the MIT Industry-Academic Cooperation Program (ILP) consortium in the US and joining the global collaboration program linked to the UK Life Science Research Institute.
In particular, it proposed a plan to promote the MR qualification certification system as a nationally accredited certification, and to strengthen the transparency of the pharmaceutical market by fostering CSOs. In addition, it will play a role as a base for nurturing pharmaceutical bio experts, including nurturing business development (BD) experts and global CRO experts, and to create a safe drug use environment by strengthening the expertise of drug advertisement review.
Chairman Won said, “Not all CSOs are wrong, but it is true that some CSOs are beyond the scope of normal sales agencies. The association is also pointing this out,” he said. “The MR national certification certificate system comes from the meaning of enhancing the overall competence of salespeople. Although we have not yet reached a policy agreement with the government, a consensus has been formed within the National Assembly.”
In addition, Chairman Won expressed his opinion on the problem of the generic mess through question and answer.
He said, “The policy of restricting the 1+3 co-living children is all intertwined with excessive competition due to the rush of generics, indiscriminate market expansion, and rebates. “I know that there are many member companies that think there are problems with their policies,” he said. However, it is now achieved on the consensus that it is difficult to survive in the conventional way.”
“Now, generics are also viewed as an area of R&D, and the direction of’selection and concentration’ is presented to small companies. Regardless of the size of pharmaceutical companies, only Korea has the same number of items,” he said. “It is difficult to satisfy all companies, but I will try to find a way to avoid disadvantages to small companies.”
Meanwhile, through the event on the day, Chairman Won also conveyed the demands of the industry to the government.
Chairman Won said, “I ask you to implement a policy that connects innovation in the pharmaceutical and bio industry to growth,” and urged the establishment of a control tower in charge of fostering the health industry.
He added, “Because the biohealth industry is a social safety net that is directly connected to the health of the people and a growth engine that will lead the national economy in the future, a rational harmonization of regulatory policy and promotion policy is necessary.” The reinforcement of the policy organization and expansion of its role must be accompanied.”