- Opinion
- [FOCUS]We expect the MFDS to act wisely on impurity measures
- by Chon, Seung-Hyun Apr 22, 2020 06:02am
- At the end of September last year, when the MFDS decided to stop selling all products of the anti-ulcer drug “Ranitidine,” the pharmaceutical industry reacted strongly. The MFDS decided to withdraw because Ranitidine has unstable properties and is always exposed to the risk of carcinogenic substance 'N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA)'. The p
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s eye] Measures about NDMA should be careful
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Apr 16, 2020 06:34am
- Measures are imminent when the MFDS begins testing by collecting finished products of Metformin, which are used as diabetes treatments. In last December, an excess of NDMA (N-nitrosodimethylamine), a carcinogen, was detected in Metformin preparations in Singapore. Since then, the MFDS has been conducting extensive investigations. After col
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s View] Layoff isn’t always the key to COVID-19
- by Eo, Yun-Ho Mar 30, 2020 06:19am
- The pharmaceutical industry is suffering from an unprecedented scale of infectious disease outbreak with COVID-19. The executives are feeling restless from continuing to work from home and their stress of sales performance is deepening day by day. Amid worldwide pandemic, pharmaceutical companies are struggling to confirm transaction agr
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s view] Social distance is urgently needed
- by Lee, Hye-Kyung Mar 29, 2020 11:17pm
- The government has nailed down the 15-day period from March 22 to April 5 as a decisive time to win the war against COVID-19. On the 21st, Prime Minister Sye-kyun Chung said, “We need a much stronger social distance” through the dialogue with the public. In fact, the government's policy is a bit late. The government emphasizes social dis
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s view] Did they act honorably?
- by Kim, Jin-Gu Mar 6, 2020 06:05am
- Companies willing to develop COVID-19 treatment (or vaccines). Recently, press releases of this kind have increased in the reporter's mailbox. With the spread of the COVID-19 crisis, many pharmaceutical companies are jumping into the development of drugs or vaccines. But some do not seem pure intentions. It is obviously expected to float
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s View] Irony in group-listing competing drugs
- by Eo, Yun-Ho Mar 3, 2020 06:10am
- Inducing competition between pharmaceutical companies could lessen the financial exhaustion, but National Health Insurance (NHI) reimbursement listing procedure would get delayed. Such is an irony we witness during high-cost new drug listing or reimbursement expansion procedures in Korea. The government could take an advantage of price co
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s View] Fake news deadlier than novel virus
- by An, Kyung-Jin Mar 2, 2020 06:21am
- “Don’t talk to anyone! Don’t touch anything!” These were the catchphrases printed on marketing poster of a movie Contagion, released in September 2011. Starring beloved Hollywood stars like Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet, the movie focused on an unknown infectious disease creating a global crisis. A woman, who came back from a busin
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s view] Regional infection of COVID-19 has spread
- by Lee, Hye-Kyung Feb 25, 2020 06:10am
- On the 18th, the HIRA turned upside down when news of the first positive COVID-19 patient occurred in Daegu. It was reported that a family of the HIRA’s Daegu branch staff members worked in Daegu Saeronan Hospital, where patient 31 suspected of being a ‘super spreader’ of the spread of community infection in COVID-19, was working. The
- Opinion
- [Column] Regulations hindering healthcare IT development
- by Jung, Hye-Jin Feb 24, 2020 06:27am
- People say ‘data is petroleum of the future.’ ‘Big Data’ is the key resource and product of data economics and digital economics, but also is a key factor deciding the state competitiveness. With the recently passed Three Data Bills, anonymous information system has been adopted and obfuscated data incorporation between companies or
- Opinion
- [Reporter’s view] MFDS’ eyebrow-raising review dependency
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Feb 24, 2020 06:24am
- Obviously not true, but a series of recent incidents have gotten the public skeptical about Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s (MFDS) independent pharmaceutical review capacity. Many of recent safety issues have surfaced from overseas, and none of them were first found in Korea. Merely in a day, the ministry decided to copy the
