South Korea announced in October 2017 that it will invest 63 billion won ($56 million) in the development of personalized medicine, using big data to foster start-up companies in the biotech industry through 2021. Of the total, 43 billion won ($40 million) will go toward developing targeted agents customized for genetic mutations in cancer patients, and to make new drugs more accessible to cancer patients. 20 billion won ($16 million) is earmarked to create a cloud-based hospital information system for companies. Driven by rising medical costs, chronic illness, and an aging population, South Korea’s personalized, or precision, medicine market is predicted to grow strongly over the next 10 years.
