The Ministry of Health and Welfare said announced on July 21 a comprehensive five-year plan to nurture the pharmaceutical industry. The core part of the plan is to help the industry become one of the future growth engines by making it a globally competitive industrial sector from an industry producing low-margin generic drugs.

 

The Health Ministry, jointly with other government agencies such as the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, will focus its investment on promising R&D projects including biosimilars and stem-cell therapies. The biotech industrial zones such as those in Osong (North Chungcheong Province) and Daegu will be used as bases for the initiative.

 

According to the Korean Research-based Pharmaceutical Industry Association, Korea's drug market size in 2012 was US$11.2 billion, down about $1 billion from $12.2 billion in 2011. The nation's ranking is the world has accordingly moved down to 14th from 13th in the previous year.