COVID-19's budget is being delayed in the National Assembly

The government organizes emergency R&D subsidies to ₩111.5 billion

U.S. invests trillions won in ultra-fast speeds in vaccine development

The European union also formed a vaccine cooperation and urgently raised ₩10 trillion

With the global spread of COVID-19, vaccines and treatments are urgently needed, and the government's promised support budget plan is not in progress.

 

Unlike the fast and full support in developed countries, there is concern that the support may be delayed and the golden time to overcome COVID-19 may be missed.

 

As of the 23rd, 15 domestic COVID-19 related vaccines and treatments are being conducted by pharmaceutical companies and research institutes in Korea.

 

In addition to Remdesivir which is recommended for the treatment of COVID-19 by the central clinical committee for emerging disease control, anti-viral drugs, immunotherapeutics, and preventive vaccines, which have been developed in-house, have entered clinical trials.

 

Even though the industry suffered from COVID-19 patient loss, there are many pipelines related to COVID-19 that have not yet entered clinical trials.

 

The industry and research institutes are doing their best because they need to succeed in developing vaccines and therapeutics that can produce and supply their own products to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Korea and prepare for the post COVID-19 era where new infectious diseases can occur.

 

Countries around the world are removing various regulations for the rapid release of vaccines and treatments, and investing in R&D even in the economic crisis.

 

First of all, the United States is running an ultra-high-speed project that cuts the expected vaccine development time by half from one to a year and a half.

 

As the government invested about 10 billion dollars in the project, US President Trump has repeatedly expressed his willingness not to spare money for vaccine development.

 

The ‘Global Cooperation in COVID-19 Vaccine Development’, which the European Union and about 40 countries participated in, said that it will raise approximately $8.2 billion in grants for research on therapeutics and vaccines.

 

China is also developing vaccines aiming to be completed by the fall of this year at the Chinese Academy of Sciences to take the lead in COVID-19 vaccine.

 

President Moon Jae-in visited the Institut Pasteur Korea in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do in April, and pledged full support by saying, "Develop the best for the treatments and vaccines." It also suggested that the government can purchase and store sufficient amounts of money even if there is no economic or commercial value in the market, so that efforts and costs in development can be compensated.

 

This was reflected in the supplementary budget to provide 111.5 billion won for full-cycle R&D such as 'pre-clinical, clinical, and global phase III' for the early commercialization of promising candidates for therapeutics and vaccines.

 

There were also plans for subsidies for each stage of development, including ₩9 billion for phase I, ₩24 billion for phase II and ₩15 billion for phase III.

 

If successful in the development of vaccines and treatments, it is also essential to build infrastructure such as production facilities for rapid supply, so the budget for vaccine and treatment production facilities and process management support has been raised to ₩10 billion.

 

However, as mentioned earlier, the budget is not passed by the National Assembly, and the industry is nervous about it.

 

Concerns are raised that it is also a matter of time before companies that are accelerating the development of vaccines and treatments are braking the driving force for R&D.

 

There is no commitment to support production facilities that need to secure infrastructure quickly in line with the development of vaccines and treatments.

 

An official from the pharmaceutical industry said, "The whole world is committed to the development of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.

 

In Korea, even the determined budget is tied to the National Assembly." "The decision of the National Assembly is urgent."