C&R Research Director, “Soo-woong Kim”

Welcome everyone : )

It’s the Humanscape team!

At Humanscape, we work intimately with top-tier doctors, professors, and professional researchers working in the healthcare field. They provide invaluable insight to the Humanscape project.

1. Nice to meet you Director Kim. We hope you could briefly introduce yourself to Humanscape!

Hello, my name is Soowoong Kim. I am currently the director of the C&R Research Strategy Planning Team.

Before that, I worked for about 16 years at the Ministry of Health and Welfare. I have mainly undertaken overseas business between governments. I transferred to C&L Research to help the public sector with my experience and know-how.

2. Wow! Then, for what reasons did you join the advisory board at Humanscape?

The Humanscape project takes a pretty revolutionary approach. If the service is properly put in place, not only can it be a success to the provider, but it also greatly benefit both the government and patient. It is very interesting in terms of decentralization of medical knowledge.

Doing medical related business is on a complete different spectrum with normal business. First, because it pertains to the health and life of the people, the government is bound to have regulations. In addition to that, the service cannot survive in the long run without having a win-win beneficiary for both the provider and recipient.

I have decided to join as an advisor as there are a lot of interesting parts that I would like to lend a hand with.

3. Looking at your profile, you have a lot of experience dealing with pharmaceuticals. What goes on in the process of developing a new drugs? Subsequently, what role can Humanscape can fill in this process?

The process of developing a new drug are as follows.

1. Discovery of substance candidates

2. Pre-clinical research

3. Clinical trial application

4. Phase 1

5. Phase 2

6. Phase 3

7. Applying for permission to sell

8. A systematic post-marketing surveillance

It is a very difficult and challenging task. The development period is about 15 years on average and even the probability of success is very low. One of about ten-thousand substances will actually end up as the main product. It’s pretty much an All or Nothing market.

Unless you work as a multinational corporation or have a large capital, it is difficult to compete in the market. If Humanscape creates a channel that allows easy access and reduces costs, it will be very helpful for new drug development. In other words, a channel like that could create an environment where one can develop medicine even if they don’t have a huge capital. If so, many more people could try to develop new drugs and many more patients could benefit from these drugs. I have faith that this moment will come in the near future.

4. What kind of practical help would be given to patients with rare incurable diseases?

Not only would it help patients with rare incurable diseases, it would help on a national level.

All national health departments are concerned about lowering the cost of medical care whilst raising the quality of it. This is a common concern, but it really depends on the budget of each government. Each nation will have to select a proper medical service depending on their purchasing power.

In my experience, if per capita GDP of a city is less than $5,000, the government should first address the hunger of the people. If it is over $5,000, there should be an interest to pursue premium medical care in the city. The government also needs to give proper attention to rare incurable diseases to be able to find political stability. Nevertheless, the treatment infrastructure for these diseases is very difficult to improve in a short time. It takes about 20 to 30 years to invest, improve, and cultivate human resources for medical facilities. Yet, people aren’t able to wait that long for the improvements to take place. How can they wait when the people are sick and tired this very instant.

Naturally, the government will turn its attention to quality foreign medical information platforms. That is what we will fill. There will be a part of the Humanscape project that is in line with the interests that the country or international organization will be promoting. As a Humanscape advisor, I am sure I can give assistance to sectors pertaining to overseas markets.

5. If you having anything in mind, are there any last words for Humanscape that you would like to give?

I was very surprised to see the incredibly creative ways Humanscape has thought to commercialize this challenging concept. I want to personally observe how this business will grow and also contribute to the success of it.

I could feel the enthusiasm of the team as I watched their seminar. It was great to see the spark in their eyes as they focused to make their dream a reality. I believe this is a opportunity for Humanscape and C&R Research to collaborate and contribute to something worthwhile.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Director Kim, who participated in the interviews as well as the seminars on the development and clinical trials of new drugs that is pivotal to the development of the Humanscape project.

Thank you.