- Policy
- MFDS allocates KRW 812.2 billion for next year's budget plan
- by Lee, Hye-Kyung Sep 4, 2025 06:09am
- The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS; Minister, Yu-Kyoung Oh) has announced that its budget for 2026 has been set at a total of KRW 812.2 billion, an increase of KRW 63.3 billion (8.4%) from this year's budget of KRW 748.9 billion. This budget plan was focused on facilitating the smooth execution of the new government's national ta
- Policy
- HIRA "Reimb application of Wegovy has not been filed"
- by Lee, Jeong-Hwan Sep 4, 2025 06:08am
- The Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) announced that it will conduct a fair and swift evaluation if an application for reimbursement is submitted for Novo Nordisk's popular obesity drug, Wegovy (semaglutide). HIRA clarified that since Wegovy's company has not yet applied for reimbursement, HIRA is yet at the stage of de
- Policy
- Luxturna shows signif improvement in 3 out of 6 patients
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Sep 3, 2025 06:09am
- Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec, Novartis), a one-shot gene therapy that costs approximately KRW 300 million, showed clinically significant changes set by reimbursement criteria in only half of the patients. As indicated in the performance evaluation results disclosed last year, the effectiveness was only 50%. The Health Insurance Revie
- Policy
- Bill to mandate generic substitutions gains momentum
- by Lee, Jeong-Hwan Sep 3, 2025 06:09am
- On September 2, the ruling party introduced a bill to mandate generic (ingredient-based) prescriptions for medicines with unstable supply. The bill establishes the legal basis for “shortage drugs” and allows prescribing by ingredient name instead of brand name. The bill holds significance in that it amends the Pharmaceutical Affairs Ac
- Policy
- Kanarb and Faslodex to keep their price until ruling
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Sep 2, 2025 06:11am
- The drug prices for Boryung's hypertension treatment ‘Kanarb’ and AstraZeneca's anticancer drug ‘Faslodex,’ which were determined to be reduced by the MOHW due to the entry of generics, will be maintained at their previous levels for now. The court has decided to suspend the execution of the price reduction until the first-instance ru
- Policy
- "MFDS' data-based drug shortage response"
- by Lee, Jeong-Hwan Sep 2, 2025 06:09am
- The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) announced that it will address drug shortages by utilizing information from the "Pharmaceutical Production, Supply, and Prescription Data-based Supply Risk Prediction System," which is currently being established by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS). The MOHW has also proposed drug short
- Policy
- Industry requests incentives for rare and orphan drug supply
- by Lee, Hye-Kyung Aug 29, 2025 06:07am
- The pharmaceutical industry has voiced the need for incentives to expand supply support, such as official certification, for companies supplying rare and essential drugs. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS, Minister Yu-kyoung Oh) visited the Korea Orphan & Essential Drug Center on the 28th to review the center's current projects s
- Policy
- Next year’s reimb reevaluations to be discussed further
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Aug 29, 2025 06:07am
- The government has decided to continue discussions on the 2026 reimbursement adequacy reevaluation plan. While the reevaluation was initially expected to be approved this month through the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee review, it is reported that disagreements remain unresolved regarding selection criteria, procedural i
- Policy
- Bill banning reverse payment agreements passes committee
- by Lee, Jeong-Hwan Aug 28, 2025 06:10am
- The amendment to the National Health Insurance Act, which regulates "reverse payment agreements" where original drug companies and generic drug companies collude by exchanging money to delay or not release generics, thereby avoiding a price reduction for the original drug, passed the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee review on t
- Policy
- Reimb listing approved for the first generic of 'Angeliq'
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Aug 27, 2025 06:07am
- The first generic of Angeliq Tab (drospirenone·estradiol, Bayer), a hormone-based medicine for use in postmenopausal women, will be included in the reimbursement listing. Analysis suggests that the commercialization of domestically produced generic is significant, considering that there had been supply issues related to Angeliq, which is
