Singapore: South Korea will channelize a combined $8.9 billion (10 trillion Won) on developing 20 new drugs over the next five years, and this will be done in collaboration with private local drug makers, the South Korean health ministry said, according to a report by Yonhap News Agency.

Also, the government is set to form a fund of 500 billion won towards expansion of local pharmaceutical companies into the global drug market by acquiring promising overseas drug makers during the same period, the ministry added.

The agency reported that the ministry, through the new drug development project, is aiming at exporting 11 trillion won in drugs by 2017, thus, turning Korea into one of the global top 10 pharmaceutical powerhouses.

The government-led five-year project is the first stage of 'Pharma 2020 Vision,' which was released by Korea last year. Pharma 2020 Vision aims at helping the country grow into one of the global top seven drug powerhouses by 2020, said the news agency report.

To facilitate the plans, the government is also considering providing tax breaks to the local drug makers that invest in research and development for new drugs. In particular, the joint drug-development project between a local company and overseas renowned laboratory will get more subsidies from the government than the private company's own project, the ministry said.