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Ladies and gentlemen,

We would like to extend my warm welcome to all of you to ‘The 9th Seoul International New

​Pharmaceuticals Forum co-sponsored by Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology

and the Financial News. We especially appreciate Yang Seung-Jo, chairman of Health Welfare

Committee and Son Moon-Gi, minister of Food and Drug Safety, and Lee Gyoo-Ho, president

of Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology who came and participated in this forum.
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As it is well known, new drug development is a huge challenge: It is a long, costly proposition.

The cost of development is estimated at nearly 1 trillion won and 10 to 15 years are expected

to be taken for development alone. Even if much time and funds are invested, the changes of

success are quite slim. With such difficulty, major global pharmaceutical companies with 

plentiful capital have been monopolizing new drug development.

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Recently, the Big Data is making a big change. The Big Data which calculates the large 

volume of data more precisely at faster speeds is praised for possibly leading the fourth 

industrial revolution. Garner, Inc., an American research and advisory firm, therefore, 

has compared the Big Data to ‘the 21st century oil’. In the information age, the Big Data 

is likely to have the role of a lubricant which  boosts the relevant industry.

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Advanced countries are mostly trying to make the best of the Big Data even in the healthcare

industry. New drug development is no exception. The Big Data is now in the spotlight for an

alternative which enables to shorten the process of new drug development dramatically. 

The genetic Big Data, for example, can find a patient suitable for clinical testing from the 

beginning and decrease a probability of failure in the testing.

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This is why we have decided to use today’s forum theme of ‘New Drug Development Using 

Medical Big Data’. Especially we have focused on how global pharmaceutical companies 

are using the Big Data in the new drug development. Also we’ll take a close look at how 

much the medical Big Data in Korea is being used.

 

​Korea has emerged as one of the world’s largest information and communications 

technology(ICI) power nations. It has large numbers of medical related data based on the 

national health insurance and its healthcare and pharmaceutical industries have strong will 

to develop new drugs. Therefore, in we can good use of the Big Data, we can also find a new 

opportunity in the new drug development market. Prior to that, great care is needed for privacy 

protection. Medical information, particularly, should be dealt with carefully. It is generally known 

that there are various technologies which seek the public good, but not invade privacy.

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We expect that such political tasks shall also be addressed at today’s forum. 

We wish this forum could help Korea become a power nation of new drugs, and 

you all good health.

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Thank you.

 

Jeon, Jae Ho
President & CEO,
The Financial News