In order to become a 'K-global vaccine hub,' which aims to make Korea a global vaccine production and distribution base, the government promised to foster and support the vaccine industry. The private sector also decided a large investment of 6.3 trillion won.
The global vaccine hub preparatory committee had the second meeting hosted by Prime Minister Kim Boo-gyeom at Seoul Post Tower on the 2nd, checked the progress of the global vaccine hub strategies that are pushed by the government and discussed detailed plans for each field.
The committee held the second meeting following the first meeting presided over by President Moon Jae-in on August 5, and a total of 27 officials from government and private sector attended.
At the meeting, the government has decided to support private companies' facility investment to nurture vaccine and vaccine raw material industries as a core industry. The private companies are investing or planning investment of a total of 6.29 trillion won by 2024.
Samsung Biologics is planning to invest a total of 4.24 trillion won, including 1.74 trillion in the fourth plant in Songdo, which has been constructing from February, by 2022 and 2.5 trillion won in additional plants from 2022 to 2024.
Celltrion is planning to invest 1.5 trillion won in the construction of factories and R&D Center, and SK Bioscience will invest 270 billion won to build a vaccine institute. Prestige Biologics will invest 226 billion won in its new factory. The total amount of investment by 15 private companies is nearly 6.29 trillion won.
The government will create a vaccine ecosystem for enterprises and drastically improve unreasonable policies to boost investments. Moreover, it is planning to expand investments to overall biopharmaceutical industries.
The government will also provide subsidies to companies with insufficient funds. It is planning to support 18 billion won secured by supplementary budget in 2021 to 14 companies by the end of this year to help vaccine-related companies that have investment plans but do not have enough funds.
The committee will newly establish an 'analysis and patent team' to produce patent reports related to the vaccine industry and provide customized patent strategies for each company.
It is planning to prepare technology protection guidelines, including domestic patents and trade secrets strategies (IP Mix) related to the vaccine, and also provide optimal solutions to international intellectual property disputes.
Support for export marketing will be also enhanced. By using experts group of KORUS Global Vaccine Partnership, it will specify cooperation scope between Korea and the U.S. In addition, it will establish an online global partnering (GP) center for each overseas vaccine manufacturer to encourage cooperation between Korean and overseas companies through video consulting.
The government is also planning to participate in the 'Global Vaccine and Bio Manpower Development Hub' led by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In addition, the government discussed ways for international cooperation.
The government said it has been conducting cooperation with the U.S. through the KORUS global vaccine partnership since the Korea-U.S. summit on May 21, and has signed a vaccine cooperation accord in New York, U.S. in September.
At the meeting, participants also discussed ways to develop human resources by training 60 trainees from Asian regions in Korea through the partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and develop vaccine and purchase raw materials with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). (ANI/Global Economic)
( With inputs from ANI )
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