The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday that it established a 100 billion won ($91 million) fund to help the nation’s struggling pharmaceutical industry make inroads into global markets.

The fund will be spent on encouraging local drugmakers to develop new products, promote sales and expand production capacity, officials said. The ministry has offered 20 billion won to the fund with other state-run financial institutions joining in the investment.

“The government-led fund is created to invigorate investments toward local drugmakers that have been suffering due to a lack of investment from the private sector,” Health Ministry Chin Young said.

Currently, Korea has no pharmaceutical company capable of producing new drugs targeting the global market. 

(christory@heraldcorp.com)