The South Korean government is launching a comprehensive strategy to nurture pharmaceutical and biotech companies capable of producing blockbuster drugs with annual sales of $1 billion (approximately 1.5 trillion won) and to achieve 30 trillion won ($21 billion) in technology exports by 2030.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups held a joint policy meeting on June 24 at the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and announced a "Full-Cycle Collaboration Plan for Pharma-Bio Venture Development." The plan aims to eliminate support gaps spanning from startup creation to research and development, clinical trials, commercialization and global expansion, with a focus on intensively nurturing "blockbuster candidate companies."
The government is pursuing this strategy because while Korea's pharmaceutical and biotech industry has accumulated technology export achievements, it faces limitations in scaling up. Domestic technology exports surpassed 21 trillion won ($14.7 billion) last year, marking an all-time high, but no Korean company yet possesses a blockbuster drug generating more than $1 billion in annual global sales.
The market environment is expanding rapidly. As of 2023, the global pharmaceutical market has grown to three times the size of the semiconductor market. Korea's pharmaceutical exports more than doubled from $4 billion in 2017 to $9.2 billion in 2024. Biopharmaceutical exports also rose from $1.5 billion to $5.8 billion over the same period, placing Korea among the world's top 10. Based on these results, the government determined that a shift from technology development to "commercialization and global expansion" is necessary.
The government is reorganizing its support system around a "4-UP Strategy." At the scale-up stage, it will introduce a "relay-style support" model in which the private sector identifies promising companies and the government provides follow-up R&D and commercialization funding. The plan includes funding of up to 3 billion won ($2.1 million) per company, along with linkages to technology guarantees and the National New Drug Development Project to lower barriers to clinical trial entry.
Open innovation will also be strengthened. The government will expand collaboration between global pharmaceutical companies and domestic ventures and provide step-by-step support through the entire process leading to technology transfer agreements. Global expansion support linked to overseas hubs such as CIC in Boston will also be pursued in parallel.
Improvements to research infrastructure and regulations are also planned. The government will establish shared systems for research equipment and data utilization, and foster an industrial ecosystem connecting companies, hospitals and investors through field-oriented regulatory reform. Additionally, the government plans to expand AI-based drug development cooperation models through new joint inter-ministry projects.
The government expects this strategy to build a virtuous cycle linking investment, R&D, commercialization and global expansion, enabling Korean companies to advance to a stage where they generate tangible sales results in the global market. Minister of Health and Welfare Chung Eun-kyeong stressed, "We will build a growth ladder that connects the entire new drug development cycle through inter-ministry collaboration."