The government has funneled about 10 percent of its fiscal spending on the biotechnological area into research and development aimed at discovering new drugs, over the past seven years.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare_{보건복지부}(MOHW) made the biggest investment in the R&D for new drugs, followed by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning_{미래창조과학부}(MSIP) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy_{산업통상자원부}(MOTIE).

The government invested 1.9 trillion won ($1.7 billion) in R&D related to new drugs from 2009 to 2015, which accounted for 10 percent of its total investment in the biotechnology field during the period, according to the report released Wednesday by Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning_{한국과학기술기획평가원}(KISTEP).

Source: KISTEP

MOHW made the biggest investment in new drug-related R&D, with 780 billion won, or 40.5 percent of the total, chased by MSIP with 519 billion won, MOTIE with 390 billion won, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety_{식품의약품안전처}(MFDS) with 106 billion won, Rural Development Administration_{농촌진흥청}(RDA) with 24 billion won, and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries_{해양수산부}(MOF) with 12.5 billion won. The investment by three ministries --MOHW, MSIP, and MOTIE – amounted to 1.68 trillion won, 87.7 percent of the total.

As of 2015, the government ministries invested 56 percent of the total in new bio drugs, 29.3 percent in synthetic new drugs and 14.5 percent in wonder drugs by using the natural substance, the report said. By disease, they spent 47.9 percent of total outlay on 47.9 percent in anticancer treatments, 15 percent in drugs treating infectious diseases, 11 percent in blood vessel-related disease remedies and 8.4 percent in anti-arthritis medicines.

The state agency expected the report would serve as the basis to set up investment strategies for the development of new drugs in the future.

“It was relatively easy for us to calculate phase-by-phase expenditure in the area of new drug development and predict how much budget the government spends by each step in the development processes,” the report said. “These multiple-portfolios analyses, which include different phases and research bodies, will enable the government to establish investment strategy.”

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