turning to korea's biomedicine sector,...which the government has pointed to as a key growth engine for the country.kim ji-yeon gives us an overview of the booming industry in the first installment of our new"it and science front" segment. local bio startup eubiologics says it's thefirst company in korea to ever independently develop a cholera vaccine from micro-organismsfor export. its success is an example of the kind of enterprisethe government wants to nurture with its three-year, multimillion dollar plan.ceo baik yeong-ok says it will help bio startups like his to thrive because the most difficultpart of launching the business was in securing long-term state and private investment.
"until now, the government's support was verylimited in many respects. i remember the time i had to go door-to-door because the companycouldn't pay employee salaries -- sometimes for up to four months. but luckily, in theend, we were able to receive millions of dollars from investors, which we used for lab equipmentand clinical tests to develop new medicines." the company is now sending vaccines made atthis facility... all over the world... after being granted approval from the world healthorganization in december... a result the ceo says he owes to the faith and support of hisemployees and the local community. "and now the startup is supplying 10-point-3million cholera vaccines to unicef through 2018."
the company is now aiming to develop by 2021more vaccines and biosimilars, or biological medical products with properties that aresimilar to ones that have already been approved. the products will be developed for the treatmentof endemic diseases,... including typhoid fever and dysentery,... with the hope thatthey can contribute to boosting the status of local biomedicine companies on a globalscale. korea's biomedicine industry is becoming anew growth engine for the country, given its growing presence in the global pharmaceuticalmarket... which is estimated to grow exponentially over the years to surpass 1-point-2-trillionu.s. dollars by 2020. the local biomedicine market is expected togrow sevenfold over the next six years to
11-point-6 billion dollars... and create 81-thousandjobs by the year 2020. biomedicine uses biological elements and organisms,ranging from bacterium, enzymes to stem cells,... to produce pharmaceutical drugs.one of the biggest advantages of biomedicines is that they are less toxic to the body thanconventional synthetic medicines -- an important trait for treating patients with chronic diseases.it's also why the korean government sees the sector as vital to the future of the country'sbio healthcare industry. "the world's first biosimilar antibody andstem cell research therapy were created in korea... showing the country's potential inthe bio-pharmaceutical field. the government will do its utmost to turn the sector intoa core growth industry that will in turn help
boost the local economy." the government has also pledged to help makekorea the world's seventh strongest country in the bio healthcare sector by 2020... byimplementing tax exemptions, providing funds for research and development... and reducingexisting regulations for startups to list on the tech-heavy kosdaq.in may, the ministry of science, ict and future planning laid out a three-year plan through2018 to invest around 110-million dollars into the development of new medicines andmethods for preventing the spread of infectious diseases.it will also set aside another 67-million dollars to support the creation of more thanone thousand bio startups during the period.
kim ji-yeon, arirang news.
0 comments:
Post a Comment