Trend Ageing and chronic disease sustain steady demand growth for Korean biohealth

Summary

KIET expects biohealth demand to keep growing steadily on population ageing, rising chronic disease and expanding investment in innovative drugs and CDMO services. Patent expiries and government-led drug price cuts are listed as factors raising demand for biosimilars and CDMO. The spread of chronic disease to younger age groups also drives rapid growth in demand for biohealth technologies and services. Exports of the sector's main products are expected to keep growing through the second half, led by biopharmaceuticals shipped to advanced markets such as the United States and the EU. The institute judges that Middle East risk, oil price spikes, US tariff volatility, domestic drug price cuts and labour disputes at a leading firm will have only a limited effect. It concludes that ageing-based demand supports stable growth despite regulatory and tariff uncertainty.