The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that it held the kickoff meeting for the 'Pharmaceutical Bio Venture Advisory Group' on the 19th to systematically support the growth of small and medium-sized pharmaceutical bio ventures and reflect the voices from the field into policies.
Starting with the 'Pharmaceutical Bio Venture Innovation Ecosystem Creation Plan' announced at the ministerial meeting on industrial competitiveness strengthening in January, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has established a dedicated organization within the ministry, the Pharmaceutical Bio Venture Task Force (TF), to systematically foster pharmaceutical bio ventures.
In addition, a practical team composed of personnel from affiliated organizations such as the Korea Institute of Small and Medium Enterprises, the Korea Technology Finance Corporation, and others has been newly established as a focal point to implement the support tasks reflected in the measures.
Furthermore, to promote effective policies considering the characteristics of the pharmaceutical bio industry, the advisory group was formed with 12 key stakeholders from the pharmaceutical bio ecosystem, including pharmaceutical bio corporations, relevant associations, medium-sized pharmaceutical companies, and venture capitalists.
The advisory group plans to first discuss policy directions for strengthening the competitiveness of domestic pharmaceutical bio ventures in response to the rapidly changing global market environment and technology trends, and to perform professional policy recommendations to specify and enhance support policies and projects according to field demands.
Quarterly, the advisory members will set the direction for the pharmaceutical bio venture promotion policy, while monthly, the practical members recommended by the advisory members will specify the support policies through practical meetings based on the policy planning direction. The specific plans discussed in the practical meetings will be checked at the next advisory group meeting through a self-policy feedback system to ensure seamless policy implementation.
At the kickoff meeting, Minister Oh Youngju attended and presented the appointment letters to the advisory group members, sharing in-depth opinions on the operation plan of the advisory group, the progress of the pharmaceutical bio venture promotion policy, and the main trend changes in the domestic and international pharmaceutical bio ecosystem, as well as field challenges.
Minister Oh said, "The pharmaceutical bio field cannot rely solely on funding for individual corporations, and support for cooperation among various ecosystem members, including pharmaceutical bio ventures and startups, pharmaceutical companies, and contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs), is necessary. We will enhance the pharmaceutical bio venture promotion policy based on the diverse suggestions of the advisory group to create an ecosystem where pharmaceutical bio small and medium-sized corporations can grow stably."