Lowering the Price of Medicine, Expanding Alternative Prescription

In order to stabilize the health insurance finance and to reduce the patients’ financial burden, the price of copy medicine will be lowered. It is also predicted that the medicine, which can experiment the biological pharmaceutical equal effectiveness(BPEE) test, will increase 3.4percent more in order to broadly allow the alternative prescription.

Minister of Public Health and Welfare Kim Won-gil was interviewed by Donga-Ilbo on 7th. He said, While the price of copy medicine is 50percent of the original medicine in other countries, it marks 70percent in domestic. The proposal to cut down the price of copy medicine for the purpose of reducing the medicine price is being discussed.

Minister Kim also said, The expansion of the alternative prescription based on the premise of BPEE proof is desirable. Hence, we are planning to expand the experimental capability of BPEE, which entails 100-200 items, to 700-800 by organizing a consortium of civilian – expert.

According to the revised pharmaceutical Law, the alternative prescription is allowed to the extent to the BPEE proved medicine. If the experimental capability of BPEE is expanded, the alternative prescription will become easier.

Ministry of Public Health and Welfare has decided not to allow the 5735 medicine items, which did not pass the BPEE test, to apply for the health insurance starting on November, if their BPEE is not recognized.

Ministry Kim added that It is hard to adopt the private insurance system now because we have to stabilize the public insurance system first. However, the private insurance system can be discussed as soon as the public insurance system becomes stable. I will include this agenda in the meeting on May.

Ministry Kim also said, The self-corrective endeavors made by both Korean Medical Association and Korean Pharmaceutical Association are too weak to have the disciplinary rights of their own. If their self-corrective efforts are visualized, we plan to give them the disciplinary rights every year.

Song Sang-Keun songmoon@donga.com