Gov't hikes funds for biomedical research and development

The ambitious plan includes the country’s version of the ARPA-H, a U.S. agency aimed at driving high-risk, high-return innovation, as well as a renewed emphasis on global collaboration dubbed the “Boston-Korea” project.

A researcher holds a vial of SKYCovione vaccine, developed and manufactured by SK bioscience [JOINT PRESS CORP]

As Korea shines a spotlight on biopharmaceuticals and healthcare, spending on biomedical research and development (R&D) is about to get a major boost.

The ambitious plan includes the country’s version of the ARPA-H, a U.S. agency aimed at driving high-risk, high-return innovation, as well as a renewed emphasis on global collaboration dubbed the “Boston-Korea” project.

“We will pursue strategic projects worth 2.5 trillion won ($1.89 billion) to incentivize future growth sectors such as bio and space technologies,” President Yoon Suk Yeol said during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, adding that “1.8 trillion won will be invested for global R&D collaborations such as the Boston-Korea project to secure the world’s leading capabilities.”

While the government is tightening its belt in next year’s budget plan, R&D expenditure allocated for biopharmaceuticals and healthcare was raised by 83.4 billion won, or 12 percent, to 780.1 billion won, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

This includes 49.5 billion won allotted for the Korean ARPA-H program, which aims to foster a “mistake-tolerant” environment for high-risk but high-impact research projects.

The ARPA-H, or the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, is a U.S. research funding agency aimed at accelerating breakthrough discoveries in the high-impact biomedical field.

Founded in March 2022, the ARPA-H is designed to “bring the Darpa [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] attitude to health,” according to Dr. Eric Lander, science advisor to the president. The plan is modeled after the research agency behind some of the world’s most groundbreaking innovations, such as the invention of the internet.

Korea also wants a catalyst, or an initiative to proactively tackle challenging goals in its biomedical and healthcare sector.

“Under the current system, there is a structural pressure that R&D project results should be a success and nothing else, […] and my understanding is that the [ARPA-H] project aims to make the environment more accepting toward failure and give more freedom in research projects," Lee Seung-kyu, vice chairman of the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization (Korea BIO), told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

The ministry plans to pour a combined 1.93 trillion won into the project from 2024 through 2033, with government funding accounting for 97.5 percent, or 1.88 trillion won.

The goal is to “solve challenging state issues such as pandemics and essential healthcare crises” by providing financial support for R&D projects of “high-cost, high-difficulty,” the ministry said.

The initiative is defined by a streamlined process for large-scale, multidisciplinary projects, as well as fostering a “mistake-tolerant” environment to drive breakthroughs.

The focus is on five core segments: public health security, unconquered diseases, bio-health, welfare system and essential medical service expansion. Possible goals include fast-tracking the vaccine development process and extending healthy life expectancy from the current 73 years to 75 years.

However, Korea BIO's Lee pointed out that "creating a failure-tolerant environment is not achieved by a single program," stressing that it should also be supported by the whole system encompassing the administrative approval process and the market.

A 60.4 billion budget has also been allotted for the Boston-Korea project, which aims to secure advanced capabilities in biopharmaceutical and healthcare in collaboration with the world’s leading institutes. The government also hiked the ODA funds in healthcare for 2024 from the previous 71 billion won to 93.5 billion won.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]