Medical devices for Creative economy and Public safety

- 9th Medical Device Day Ceremony -

□ The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Minister Sohn, Mun-gi) announced that it will host a ceremony to celebrate the ‘9th Medical Device Day’ under the theme of “Medical devices for Creative economy and Public safety” at Coex Intercontinental Hotel in Seoul on May. 27th.
○ Marking the 9th anniversary this year, the Medical device day began in 2008 to commemorate May. 29th, 2003, when the Medical Device Act was enacted and promulgated. Ever since its inception, the Medical Device day has set the stage for cooperation and communication among those working in the field of medical devices including the government, industries, academia and civil societies, etc.

□ The local market size of medical devices amounted to $4.42 billion in 2015, 4.9% up from the previous year. The sector has also recorded a steady annual growth of 5.1% on average since 2011.
○ Furthermore, $2.71 billion of medical devices were exported, a 5.2% increase from the year before, while $ 2.94 billion were imported, a 0.9% decrease from 2014, reducing trade deficit.
○ In addition, the industry has hired 70,600 employees, 13% up from 2014, contributing to job creation.

□ The event will include the first session of ceremony to acknowledge the development of the medical device industry, and the second session of seminar to discuss safe management of medical devices and its future growth.
○ During the first session, 53 people will be awarded prizes for contributing to the industry development and safe management of medical devices, followed by congratulatory and opening remarks. The event will be joined by around 300 guests from the government, industries, and civil societies, etc.
○ The second session seminar will include a series of presentations given by the MFDS and experts at home and abroad on a variety of topics including Medical device industry from the viewpoint of Venture Capital, Regulatory information of China (Approval process and Clinical trial considerations, etc) and MFDS medical device policies to be changed in 2016.

□ The Minister Sohn said that the Ministry will strive to ensure safe management of devices while seeking the lifting of unnecessary regulations to strike a balance between public safety and industrial development.