[한경에세이] 물고기 잡는 법

피터 야거

유대인 속담에 '아들에게 물고기 한 마리를 준다면 하루 밖에 살지 못하지만 잡는 방법을 가르쳐 주면 평생을 살아 갈 수 있다'는 말이 있다. 시간이 걸리고 위험이 따르지만 스스로 물고기를 잡는 과정에서 많은 경험과 가치를 배울 수 있다는 이 말에 깊이 공감한다.

이 속담은 한국의 생명과학 · 제약산업 분야에서도 되새겨봐야 하지 않을까 싶다. 눈부시게 진화하고 있는 과학기술이 혁신적 치료제 개발의 판도를 바꿔놓고 있기 때문이다. 바이오 제약은 아주 매력적인 분야다. 최근 한국에서도 수십여 개의 바이오테크 기업이 생기면서 이 중 상당수가 암,당뇨병,심장병 등에 대한 신약개발 프로젝트를 진행하고 있다. 아직은 대부분이 초기단계로,신약으로 시장에 나오려면 10여년의 연구 기간이 더 걸릴 수 있다. 그러나 이들 생명과학자의 노력은 한국의 신약 개발에 엄청난 기여를 할 것이다.

한국의 생명과학,제약산업은 신약의 발견과 개발에 상당한 잠재력을 보유하고 있다. 한국의 우수한 과학적 인프라,기술과 재능,고도로 발전한 IT,역량있는 국내외 제약사와의 파트너십을 구축한다면 그 가치를 더할 수 있고,투자도 이끌어낼 수 있을 것이다.

그러나 미래 성장동력으로서의 생명과학,제약산업이 좀더 역할을 잘 해내려면 업계와 정부가 합심해 물고기 잡는 법을 터득해야 한다. 먼저 업계는 신약 연구개발(R&D) 투자에 적극적인 자세를 가져야 한다. 한 예로 세계 3위 제약사인 노바티스는 지난해 매출의 17%인 72억달러를 R&D에 투자했다. 두번째로,신약에 대한 적정가격 보장,R&D 투자에 대한 세금감면,지식재산권 보호 등의 신약연구 개발에 대한 투자를 장려하는 정책이 마련돼야 한다. 하나의 신약을 개발하기까지 평균 14년,15억달러가 필요하다. 이는 물론 실패한 경우의 코스트를 포함한 수치다. 그만큼 힘들게 개발된 신약의 가치가 시장에서 제대로 인정받을 수 있어야 관심과 투자가 확대될 수 있다. 끝으로,우수 연구개발 인력 양성 및 확보를 위해 지속적인 노력이 필요하다. 한국보건산업진흥원 보고서에 따르면 한국의 신약 개발과 관련한 R&D 인력은 현재도 2만 여명 이상 부족한 상황이며 앞으로 더 심화될 것으로 전망하고 있다.

당장의 배고픔에 급급해 물고기를 잡아주는 부모와 같이 기다려주지 못하는 조급함을 이제 내려놓자.한국의 바이오 제약산업을 우수한 성장 엔진으로 만들기 위해서는 비전,결단력,인내심이 필요하다. 하나의 신약이 개발돼 출시되기까지 길게는 15년간의 인내가 필요하다. 한국의 바이오테크는 '물고기 잡는 법'을 가르치고,글로벌 기업 및 학계와의 네트워크 구축에 집중하며,미래를 내다보는 정부 정책의 지원을 받을 때 진정한 성장엔진이 될 것이다.

[영문 원고]

How To Catch Fish

Korea's Biotech Rise to Global Success

Peter Jager， President of Novartis Korea peter.jager@novartis.com

A Jewish proverb says that 'If you give a fish to your son， it will feed him for a day. But if you teach him how to catch fish， it will feed him for his life time.' I deeply sympathize with this proverb in that one can gain much more experience and grow added value by oneself in the course of 'catching fish'， even though it will take time and one will need to overcome obstacles along the way.

My observation is that the bio－pharmaceutical industry in Korea today needs to pay attention to this proverb， as the evolving science and technology in this sector is rapidly transforming the way we discover new breakthrough medicines that address unmet patient needs world－wide. With the elucidation and publication of the 'Human Genome' in 2001， the science of 'Functional Genomics' has taken off rapidly. In the recent past it was essentially 'trial and error' and high throughput testing that drove drug discovery research. Now we can depart from a much better scientific understanding of diseases， understand the biological pathways that are associated to the disease and develop specific targets to address the disease. Whereas until recently， there were as little as 400 potential therapeutic targets known and available， we soon will be able to explore over 100,000 potential therapeutic targets， as a result of the new science of functional genomics. New 'drugs' could be small molecules， proteins， antibodies， growth factors， even vaccines.

The bio－pharmaceutical industry is a highly attractive sector to develop; in recent years， dozens of new Biotech start－ups have been established in Korea， many of them are running very promising scientific programs that may lead to the discovery of breakthrough medicines， such as for cancer， diabetes， heart disease， rheumatoid arthritis and neurological disorders. Some of these programs have led to successful Korean patent filings in recent years: this emphasizes the need to have a world class intellectual property protection in place in Korea， notably for the bio－pharmaceutical sector. What we see today in Korea are mostly early phase discovery programs: it will take at least a decade of further R&D until we will see the first of these new generation medicines come to market. I am convinced that Korea's life－scientists can contribute significantly to the process of transforming drug discovery， based on a better understanding of the biology of diseases.

Biotech is a risky， expensive but potentially very rewarding venture that requires not only scientific excellence， but also vast investments over time as well as early global partnering with other Biotech companies and scientific institutions. Why global partnering？ First， to build strategic alliances with academia and other biotech companies， providing a sound basis to share knowledge－ and technology platforms necessary to take the right scientific decisions and speed up R&D programs， strengthening their pre－clinical pipeline. Second， to attract more capital needed to develop the research programs through the various phases before going into clinical testing. And third， to speed up the process of clinical development， market authorization and global commercialization.

I believe that the Korean Biotech－ and Pharma industry have a great potential for new drug discovery and －development. Key assets here are the excellent scientific infrastructure， the availability of scientific skills and talents， the highly developed IT sector， the presence of a strong local and multinational pharmaceutical industry， having the means to invest and ability to add value through partnering. Having had the opportunity to talk with many people including the industry leaders and policy makers in Korea， I have felt that the industry and government need to join force as partners to learn how to catch fish， in order that the bio－pharmaceutical industry will be able to successfully play its pivotal role as one of future growth engines in Korea.

In order to achieve this ambitious goal， a number of requirements need to be met; First of all， the industry should have a clear strategy to continue sufficient investment in R&D. Global pharma companies spend typically about 15~20% of their revenues on R&D. For instance， Novartis alone invested USD 7.2 billion in R&D or 17% of its total revenues in 2008. The 'going rate' for a full R&D program that leads to one novel medicine today is well over 1.5 Billion USD over a period of 14 years on average: this includes the cost of failure. Secondly， the government must offer incentives by recognizing the value of innovation， allowing a certain premium (meaning value－based pricing) for the innovator to pay back the huge investments needed. Also， providing tax benefits and protection of intellectual properties are necessary in order to motivate R&D investment. Also， Korea must devote resources to further strengthen bio－pharma research， expanding academic involvement and capacity， increasing the pool of life science talents. According to a report released by KHIDI， the industry has a shortage of more than 20，000 specialized human resources in R&D today.

The vast resources required to pay for new drug discovery and development today are financed by the revenues of companies marketing current medicines， complemented by venture capital. Given that it takes up to 15 years of heavy investment before starting to generate any income， let us avoid the impatience like parents who give a fish to feed their hungry children without teaching them how to catch fish. Vision， determination and above all patience are necessary to build a formidable new Bio－Pharmaceutical growth engine for Korea. For now， local biotech needs concentrate on teaching 'the art of fishing'， working within the global biotech and academia network， supported and enabled by forward－looking government policies and schemes.