The government announced on 15th that it would support the development of more than three pharmaceutical and biotechnology unicorns (unlisted companies with a corporate value of over 1 trillion won) by 2027, and achieve over 30 trillion won in biotechnology venture technology exports, aiming to become one of the 'world's top five biotechnology venture powerhouses.'

On the same day, the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups announced the 'Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Venture Innovation Ecosystem Creation Plan' at the Ministerial Meeting on Strengthening Industrial Competitiveness.

Based on four strategies—promoting the commercialization of promising source technologies, creating a robust investment environment for biotechnology ventures, enhancing open innovation, and establishing an innovation foundation for biotechnology ventures—the plan aims to create an innovative ecosystem with a virtuous cycle structure and strengthen the global competitiveness of domestic pharmaceutical and biotechnology ventures.

/Courtesy of Ministry of SMEs and Startups

The ministry plans to commercialize promising source technologies and attract investments to expand technology exports. It is expected that as knowledge and capital accumulate in this process, a virtuous cycle structure of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology venture innovation ecosystem will be created, leading to new drug development.

The support system for technology development in biotechnology ventures will be advanced. Research and development (R&D) for candidate substance exploration will be planned for technological cooperation with overseas entities that have extensive new drug development experience, and technology cooperation reflecting clinical field demand will be activated through one-on-one matching between clinicians and start-ups.

To create a favorable investment environment for biotechnology ventures, a new venture fund will be established that invests 1 billion to 2 billion won in initial investments verifying the efficacy and reliability of lead and candidate substances.

A fund will also be created to promote strategic collaboration between domestic biotechnology ventures and domestic and foreign pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporations. A fund jointly participated by 14 domestic pharmaceutical corporations is planned to be sized at 16 billion won, while the fund involving Japanese companies in the biotechnology sector is planned at 30 billion to 40 billion won.

A scale-up program strategy will also be established, in which the government matches investments in biotechnology venture capital (VC) companies. The ministry plans to form 3 to 5 'K-Bio and Vaccine Funds' within the year, raising 600 billion won for new drug development. Additionally, it will enhance open innovation capabilities of domestic pharmaceutical corporations and activate global open innovation.

To this end, it plans to identify successful collaborative models between domestic pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology ventures and plan joint new drug pipeline development projects between pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology ventures. It will prepare a foundation for collaboration with overseas companies, universities, and research institutes and support full-cycle open innovation with global companies.

Additionally, to expand the innovation foundation for biotechnology ventures, the plan improves domestic systems through overseas validation and decentralized clinical trials. It will also establish a strategic global collaboration foundation through cluster-level R&D and joint clinical projects.

Minister Oh Youngju noted, 'Korea's biotechnology ventures have grown to world-class levels, but the establishment of an ecosystem where innovative entities are organically connected is insufficient,' and added, 'We will spare no effort in creating a virtuous cycle ecosystem where biotechnology ventures can smoothly transfer technology, accumulate knowledge and funds, and challenge new drug development.'