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South Korea Eyes AI-Driven Bio Boom with National Health Data Goldmine

A Bank of Korea report highlights South Korea's potential to become a global leader in bio-health by applying AI to its vast, high-quality national health data. The country possesses a rare strategic asset: health insurance and clinical data from 50 million citizens under a single system. To capitalize on this, the central bank proposes a national bio data approval system to govern data use for public interest research. This comes as the country's biotechnology industry output showed strong growth of nearly 10% in 2024, signaling renewed momentum.

Key Points: AI & Health Data to Boost South Korea's Bio Sector

  • AI can cut drug development time by half
  • Korea has rare health data on 50 million people
  • Proposed national bio data approval system
  • Bio industry output grew nearly 10% in 2024
2 min read

AI use of massive national health care data to boost S. Korea's bio sector

South Korea plans to leverage its vast national health data with AI to accelerate drug development and become a global bio-health leader, says central bank report.

"AI can reduce new drug development timelines by up to 50 percent, significantly lower research and development costs, and create new markets. - Bank of Korea report"

Seoul, Feb 9

South Korea could significantly strengthen the competitiveness of its bio-health industry by leveraging its abundant, high-quality bio data through artificial intelligence, a central bank report showed on Monday.

According to the report by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on measures to foster the advanced bio-health sector, South Korea lags behind leading countries in such areas as innovative new drugs and advanced medical devices, while the global market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 5 percent over the next five years amid population aging and other factors.

From 2016 to 2023, the country ranked ninth worldwide in the number of bio-health patent applications filed in the United States, while it ranked fourth overall across all sectors, reports Yonhap news agency.

"AI can reduce new drug development timelines by up to 50 percent, significantly lower research and development costs, and create new markets," the report said. "Under these circumstances, South Korea has an opportunity to overcome the limitations of its current industrial ecosystem and overtake leading nations."

In particular, the country possesses health insurance and clinical data collected from 50 million people under a single national health insurance system, which is "exceptionally rare worldwide and a national strategic resource in the AI era," the BOK noted.

To capitalise on such advantages, the central bank proposed a national bio data approval system, under which an authority would conduct prior reviews and approve data use only for research that meets public interest criteria, and the government would ease regulations for approved projects.

Meanwhile, South Korea's biotechnology industry output grew nearly 10 percent in 2024 from a year earlier despite persistent global trade uncertainties, industry data showed.

The country's biotechnology industry production came to 22.92 trillion won (US$15.7 billion) in 2024, up from 20.87 trillion won in 2023, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) said, citing a survey by the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization (KoreaBIO).

The figure marked a recovery following a 12 percent on-year decline in 2023, signalling renewed growth momentum in the sector.

- IANS

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Reader Comments

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Priya S
Reducing drug development time by 50% with AI is a game-changer. But the key point is the "prior review" for public interest. We must learn from this and ensure strong data privacy laws are in place first. We can't rush into this without proper safeguards for our citizens.
R
Rohit P
Interesting read. While they talk about overtaking leading nations, I wonder about our own position. We have a massive population and growing tech talent. Are our policymakers looking at such integrated data strategies for our pharma and health sector? Seems like a missed opportunity if not.
M
Michael C
The scale of data from 50 million people under one system is indeed rare. It shows how a centralized system can be a huge advantage for national R&D. The 5% annual growth forecast for the global market is a pie everyone will want a slice of.
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Shreya B
As someone in healthcare, this is the future. AI can analyze patterns we miss. But respectfully, the article doesn't address the ethical side enough. Who owns this data? The people or the state? The "public interest" criteria needs very clear, transparent definition.
K
Karthik V
Fantastic! Other countries are building future-ready industries. We need to move beyond just being the 'pharmacy of the world' for generics and invest heavily in AI+Bio. Our ITES and biotech sectors should collaborate more. Jai Hind!

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