- Opinion
- [Reporter’s View] A salesperson who lost a place to go
- by Kim, Jin-Gu Sep 4, 2020 06:52am
- "I went to work today, but I was just sitting in the car. I couldn't do anything other than that." Mr. A, who works as a salesperson for a pharmaceutical company in the metropolitan area, complained with frustration. He sat in the car for lunch with kimbap today. He couldn't even go to a cafe. He opened his laptop from the driver's seat, d
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s Note] Why so cautious with all-comers drug?
- by Eo, Yun-Ho Aug 27, 2020 06:24am
- Within the pharmaceutical industry, a drug targeting ‘all-comers’ mean it is indicated to treat all patients in non-specific stages of disease. A drug proving treatment efficacy regardless of receptor or genetic mutation sound interesting and appealing. However, the South Korean government is still conservative on the all-comers drug t
- Opinion
- [Reporter's view] Strategies for Trial & error/the evolution
- by An, Kyung-Jin Aug 25, 2020 06:14am
- In August, there was a lot of good news in the pharmaceutical and bio industry. Hanmi and Yuhan, leading domestic pharmaceutical companies, announced the news of the signing of a global technology transfer contract for the new drug pipeline, revealing the potential of R&D. The license agreements of domestic companies are developing. Earlie
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s Note] Clinical trial info, do we have enough?
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Aug 21, 2020 06:26am
- South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has decided to provide wider scope of information regarding clinical trial approval process from October last year. And the ministry has been uploading elaborative details about the process on its official website. MFDS explained further disclosure of the information aims to expand treat
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s Note] Playing the fair game of NHI coverage
- by Kim, Jin-Gu Aug 20, 2020 06:23am
- In a sports game, a referee takes over the game from time to time. When the set rules are not applied fairly, the players would naturally dispute over the biased refereeing. Such is the case for South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) regarding the National Health Insurance (NHI). Recently, MOHW convened a general meeting fo
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s view] The reality of dispensing separation
- by Jung, Heung-Jun Jul 21, 2020 06:10am
- COVID-19 caused a lot of concerns in the first half of this year in outpatient pharmacies and it was also a time for indirect evaluation, revealing the negative aspect of dispensing separation. Most pharmacies are complaining of deterioration in management due to COVID-19 , and the damage to pharmacies which receive many prescriptions is e
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s Note] Hasty move on anti-droplet masks
- by Jul 16, 2020 05:54am
- “Anti-droplet masks? They’ll be available from Monday. People with waiting number tickets given out from 9:30 in the morning can buy a box each.” This is the answer I got at a hypermarket in Seoul asking for an anti-droplet mask. The anti-droplet mask has been in the hypermarkets and convenient stores for a month now, but they are a ra
- Opinion
- [Reporter’sView] A good administrative move by government
- by Eo, Yun-Ho Jul 6, 2020 10:44am
- Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) withdrew the plan to apply the stepped drug pricing reduction on drugs transferred by business restructuring in just four months to reflect the pharmaceutical industry’s opinion. It was first announced in February, and the revision was updated in June. The industry has been in a chaos for a
- Opinion
- [Reporter’sView] Finding the key in platform technology
- by An, Kyung-Jin Jul 3, 2020 06:18am
- The world is eyeing on companies developing platform technology for novel drug. In last few years, Korean bio technology companies like ABL Bio, LegoChem Biosciences and Alteogen have signed deals worth over a trillion won with global pharmaceutical companies on rights over platform technology that facilitates drug delivery. Each in last
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s view] Listed drug reevaluation, now what?
- by Lee, Hye-Kyung Jul 1, 2020 05:56am
- The Korean health authority issuing a statement on reducing choline alfoscerate coverage is just a beginning. On June 11, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) Drug Reimbursement Evaluation Committee (DREC) announced the decision to raise the patient copayment rate on choline alfoscerate, which has been covered by the Na
