- Policy
- Orphan drug 'Jaypirca' for Mantle Cell Lymphoma wins nod
- by Lee, Hye-Kyung Aug 21, 2024 05:47am
- The BTK inhibitor Jaypirca (pirtobrutinib) has been approved in South Korea. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) announced on August 19th that it approved Jaypirca, an orphan drug for treating Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL). Lilly Korea imports the drug. Jaypirca works by binding with Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK), which is involv
- Policy
- Reevaluation of foreign drug price comparisons
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Aug 21, 2024 05:47am
- The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) announced that drug prices will be adjusted in the second half of next year by reevaluating foreign drug price comparisons. This year, an announcement about reevaluation will be made, and the HIRA will conduct the evaluation in the first half of next year. On August 20th, Pre
- Policy
- MFDS reviews COVID-19 drugs Xocova and Lagevrio
- by Lee, Hye-Kyung Aug 21, 2024 05:47am
- Amid the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic, The food and drug authorities in Korea have been taking steps to approve COVID-19 treatments. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) on the 19th, the agency began reviewing Ildong Pharmaceutical's ‘Xocova’ and MSD Korea’s ‘Lagevrio,' which the companies have submitted ap
- Policy
- New criteria set for flexible ICER threshold evaluations
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Aug 20, 2024 06:34am
- The National Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) established new criteria for drugs that apply flexible ICER (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio) thresholds during the Drug Reimbursement Evaluation Committee (DREC) meeting that was held on the 8th. The previous criteria only stipulated that a flexible ICER threshold
- Policy
- KDCA apologizes for COVID-19 drug shortages
- by Lee, Hye-Kyung Aug 19, 2024 05:47am
- The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) apologizes for the COVID-19 medication shortages due to the increased volume of usage than expected. The KDCA stated that after acknowledging the need for medication supply, it had secured medication for 260,000 people after discussing it with the office for national finance. Additio
- Policy
- Will Paxlovid soon be reimbursed in Korea?
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Aug 19, 2024 05:47am
- The government has announced that it will expedite the insurance listing process for COVID-19 drugs due to COVID-19 resurgence in Korea. As a result, attention is focused on whether the government will speed up the reimbursement coverage of the COVID-19 drug Paxlovid, which has remained under review by Korea’s Health Insurance Review a
- Policy
- KDCA operates Public-Private Council for COVID-19 response
- by Kang, Hye-Kyung Aug 16, 2024 05:56am
- The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced that it will do its utmost to respond to COVID-19 by reorganizing its COVID-19 task force and forming a public-private council with experts. The agency expects the outbreak to continue until the end of August. On the 13th, the KCDA said, “The number of hospitalized COVID
- Policy
- KDCA 'COVID-19 drug supply will be stabilized within August'
- by Lee, Hye-Kyung Aug 16, 2024 05:55am
- The government has explained that pharmacies nationwide will have enough COVID-19 drugs by the last week of August. In the case of self-test kits, the government added that it plans to produce and supply more than 5 million kits within August to ensure no shortage. The Ministry of Health and Welfare (Minister Kyoo-hong Cho) held a joint meeti
- Policy
- Gov’t raises service fee for difficult surgeries
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Aug 14, 2024 05:51am
- The government is promoting a plan to completely reform the unbalanced structure of Korea’s fee-for-service system. For this, the government is reviewing whether to raise the compensation level for severe surgeries and reforming the relative value system and conversion index used to calculate medical service fees. Kyung-sil Jeong, Hea
- Policy
- Coinsurance rate for chronic diseases reduced from 30%→20%
- by Lee, Hye-Kyung Aug 14, 2024 05:51am
- 1 The coinsurance rate for outpatient treatment at neighborhood clinics for chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes will be reduced by 10%, from 30% to 20%. The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 13th that a partial amendment to the ‘Enforcement Decree of the National Health Insurance Act’ was approved at a cabinet
