South Korea to Establish AI-Powered Pathogen Management Plan and Analysis System

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) has announced the '2nd Comprehensive Pathogen Resource Management Plan,' set to be implemented from 2026 to 2030. This plan has been developed to prepare for the emergence of unpredictable novel infectious diseases and the intensifying competition in the biohealth sector.

The 2nd Comprehensive Plan presents a vision of 'Advancing the Pathogen Resource Management Ecosystem for Enhancing Public Health and Biohealth Industry Competitiveness.' It aims to strengthen the management system by establishing an AI-powered analysis system, securing 200 nationally important pathogens by 2030, and ensuring their effective use in vaccine and therapeutic drug development. The plan includes three major strategies and nine tasks: securing national strategic pathogen resources, enhancing their high value, expanding the research and industrial utilization of pathogen resources, and innovating the pathogen resource management ecosystem.

The KDCA will develop an evaluation model to prioritize the acquisition of high-risk and high-demand pathogen resources. For pathogen resources not available domestically, the plan is to secure them through international joint research and cooperation networks. An analysis system based on data integrating genetic information, pathogen characteristics, and clinical epidemiology information, along with AI, will be established, and quality control for the National Pathogen Resource Bank will also be reinforced.

The KDCA plans to expand cooperation among industry, academia, research institutes, and hospitals, strengthen international collaboration, and build an integrated management system from collection to management and utilization of pathogen resources. Cooperation between relevant ministries and stakeholders will also be broadened. An integrated database for pathogen resource information and a cloud-based support service will be built, along with a platform capable of integrated search, distribution, and performance registration, and an AI chatbot will also be developed.

Through this plan, pathogen resources that can be immediately utilized in the event of an outbreak of novel infectious diseases like COVID-19 will be secured in advance, and they will be leveraged for vaccine and therapeutic drug development based on genetic and characteristic information. Annual implementation plans will also be prepared to ensure the smooth execution of the plan. Lim Seung-gwan, head of the KDCA, stated that the 2nd Comprehensive Plan is a medium- to long-term policy aimed at elevating the entire process from securing national strategic pathogen resources to their utilization.