Chungbuk Province announced on the 28th that since being selected in July 2023 as the country’s only special zone dedicated to materials, parts, and equipment for biopharmaceuticals, it has been accelerating development of the specialized zone centered on major anchor companies such as LG Chem, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, and GC Green Cross. About 190 partner companies are building a cooperative ecosystem in which industry, academia, research institutes, and hospitals coexist, and the province is pushing ahead with the five major tasks—R&D, infrastructure, workforce development, regulatory improvement, and operation of the task force—through 2028.
Among these, the regulatory improvement support project, one of the main initiatives, is expected to help speed product development and commercialization by providing essential technical support services and regulatory consulting for the development of biopharmaceutical materials, parts, and equipment.
2025 is the second year of full project implementation. Considering that commercialization in the biotech industry typically takes more than 10 years on average and that the sector is highly regulated, unlike last year the program will provide tailored support by separating initiatives into “continued projects” and “new projects.”
To carry out this year’s program, the province solicited regulatory improvement support project proposals from local biopharmaceutical and materials/parts/equipment companies from the 1st to the 10th. A total of four proposals were submitted (1 new, 3 continued), and on the 25th three projects (1 new, 2 continued) were finally selected. The selected companies are (new) Biosolvix, and (continued) SML Biopharm and ExoCo Bio.
Selected companies will receive provincial funding of 25 million won per year, which is expected to directly assist product commercialization through support for responding to complex approval procedures and developing regulatory strategies.
Kwon Young-ju, Director of the Bio-Food and Pharmaceutical Bureau, said, “We will actively support efforts to expedite domestic self-reliance in materials, parts, and equipment and to enhance commercialization and global competitiveness by promptly resolving the regulatory difficulties companies face on the ground during product development.”
NewDaily reporter Hong Jeong-mi https://cc.newdaily.co.kr/site/data/html/2025/04/28/2025042800111.html
