Overseas drug price comparison plan to be announced

around the end of the year

The final plan will likely be finalized after gathering opinions from the pharmaceutical industry.

 

It is expected that a plan to reevaluate overseas drug prices will be revealed around the end of the year.

 

Health authorities plan to prepare a reevaluation plan by the end of the year and then proceed with it starting next year.

 

According to the industry on the 11th, the HIRA is in the process of preparing a draft plan for comparative reevaluation of overseas drug prices.

 

The draft is expected to determine the reevaluation method and target, as well as the foreign drug price reference formula.

 

Once the draft is completed, a working group is expected to be established to collect opinions from the pharmaceutical industry.

 

Pharmaceutical organizations such as the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Association have requested a working group to establish a plan to compare and reevaluate overseas drug prices.

 

As health authorities plan to prepare a final plan by the end of the year, discussions are expected to accelerate after the National Assembly audit.

 

The pharmaceutical industry predicts that reevaluation will proceed sequentially, mainly focusing on chronic disease drugs whose patents have expired.

 

There are concerns that if drug prices are reduced through reevaluation, the damage will increase.

 

Accordingly, the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the government is already being discussed.

 

Since the draft has not yet been released, it is difficult to make hasty predictions.

 

An official in the pharmaceutical industry said, “If the completed plan is made public around the end of the year, there is a high possibility that the final plan will be prepared quickly through the working group after the National Assembly inspection.

 

The pharmaceutical industry is concerned about major damage, and it seems that it will be possible to make a prediction after looking at the draft." The comparative reevaluation of overseas drug prices is also included in the 1st National Health Union Plan announced in 2019.

 

Last year's HIRA included Canada as a reference country for overseas drug prices in addition to the existing seven countries (US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Japan), laying the foundation for reevaluation.

 

Initially, there was an attempt to include Australia, but it was canceled due to opposition from the pharmaceutical industry.

 

In December of last year, at a public hearing on measures to improve health insurance sustainability and support essential medical services, a plan to reevaluate foreign drug prices for chronic disease drugs whose patents have expired was formalized, and earlier this year, the HIRA announced that it would prepare a plan by the end of the year.