The government has set a goal of securing COVID-19 domestic treatments and vaccines by this year and next year, respectively. To that end, the government will invest 1 trillion won (some $0.8 billion) in domestic quarantine systems, industries and exports.
In particular, it will provide 100 billion won ($82 million) worth of emergency aid to companies that develop treatments and vaccines.
Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo said at the third meeting of the 'COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine Development Pan-Government Support Group' held at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul on June 3, "The government will combine public and private capabilities to help secure competitiveness in the global market for domestic treatments in 2020, domestic vaccines in 2021, and quarantine devices in 2022."
Through the measures, the government will provide full support to promising companies with the aim of securing domestic treatments and vaccines by next year.
It also plans to gather the capabilities of local companies, universities, research institutes, hospitals and the government to develop treatments and vaccines as quickly as possible.
In particular, the government will invest 1 trillion won in upgrading, industrializing, and globalizing K-quarantine and provide more than 100 billion won in emergency support for conducting clinical trials for treatments and vaccines in the second half of this year.
First of all, in the field of treatments, the government will focus on supporting three major strategic items: blood treatment near the clinical trial stage, antibody treatment, and drug re-creation research.
It also supports securing supply and demand of drugs and vaccines developed overseas. The government will review the target and quantity of emergency imports by compiling trends in the development of treatments and vaccines abroad and the results of domestic clinical trials, while pushing for imports immediately if necessary.
The government plans to stabilize the domestic supply and demand of essential quarantine items and medical devices and support the localization of the 11 key medical devices.
It plans to secure and deploy key medical devices and personal protective equipment for the treatment of severe patients such as respirators and ECMO, and also supports the improvement of functions of domestic quarantine products such as goggles.
For medical devices such as diagnostic kits, respirators, and nucleic acid extractors that can localize core technologies and have high competitiveness in the global market, 11 strategic items will be selected to provide customized support considering the level of technology by item and on-site difficulties.
Minister Park emphasized, "Through this support measure, we will gather the capabilities of the government and the private sector so that we can secure domestic treatments within this year, domestic vaccines by 2021, and secure global market competitiveness of quarantine devices by 2022."