KRPIA will introduce advanced new drugs and seek co-growth

[Interview] Dong-Wook Oh, Chairman of KRPIA

“Risk of ‘Korea-passing’ does exist … will focus on suggestions to improve the system”

“KRPIA will work hard to expand support for basic research in Korea”

Dong-Wook Oh, Chairman of KRPIA

The Korean Research-based Pharmaceutical Industry Association (KRPIA), which represents the multinational pharmaceutical companies that are considered the key source for the supply of new drugs, welcomed a new leader last February.

 

KRPIA’s newly appointed Chairman Dong-Wook Oh (51) has been leading Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Korea since 2015.

 

Oh's appointment has brought on various changes within the organization.

 

For the first time in three years, KPRIA has appointed a Korean to head its organization.

 

Demand for the appointment of a Korean leader had been rising as it would enable better communication with relevant ministries, as the access and supply of new drugs is the primary objective of multinational pharmaceutical companies Moreover, with the pipeline of multinational companies weighing towards high-priced drugs, the ability to communicate with the government and list such drugs is being emphasized.

 

In fact, related ministries, such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHW ) also tend to prefer Korean leaders.

 

Former chairman Avi BenShoshan (former CEO of MSD Korea) was the first foreigner to be elected in 7 years since 2011, after the appointment of the former CEO of Pfizer Dong-Soo Lee (58), former CEO of GSK Korea Jin-Ho Kim (70), and former CEO of Janssen Korea Ok-Yeon Kim.

 

The rise of the dominance of Korean leaders cannot be welcomed without reservations.

 

However, from KRPIA’s perspective, there is no doubt that now is more important than ever.

 

With Oh’s appointment, a new board of directors (BOD) has launched, including a new Vice-Chair and Director.

 

Also, Min-Young Kim (51) joined KRPIA as a policy executive, a position that was left vacant for 6 months after executive director Seong-Ho Kim (63) resigned from his post last April.

 

Dailypharm Korea met with Chairman Dong-Wook Oh, who is leading the change at KRPIA, to hear about the assosication's future direction and challenges.

 

-Regardless of rights and wrongs, a difference certainly exists between companies led by a Korean and a foreigner.

 

As the new chairman, how are you planning to run KRPIA? The trend these days is to pursue a win-win model in which Korean society, Korean patients, and business companies can coexist.

 

In special circumstances like the current COVID-19 outbreak, promptly introducing vaccines to Korea was an extremely difficult task as the whole world needed vaccines.

 

However, KRPIA and branch offices of multinational pharmaceutical companies were dedicated to securing a stable supply of the vaccine, persuading their headquarters, and cooperating with the government.

 

The COVID-19 vaccine case is a perfect example of the efforts made by pharmaceutical companies to support the local community by persuading their headquarters and cooperating with the government.

 

The win-win model is also important in terms of economic contribution.

 

In the age of the 4th industrial revolution, barriers to entering the biopharma industry are higher than in other industries because the know-how and technology transfer of leading global companies is very extremely important.

 

KRPIA has been acting as the bridge connecting domestic companies to form partnerships with global pharmaceutical companies through open innovation so that these companies may grow to establish themselves as leaders in the field by developing their own know-how and capabilities based on partnerships with the global companies.

 

- As you have mentioned, it is encouraging that multinational companies were able to persuade their headquarters to improve Korea’s treatment and prevention environment.

 

However, advanced new drugs that ㅊcannot be properly handled under Korea’s current healthcare system are pouring in right now.

 

Persuading company headquarters may get more and more difficult in this aspect. That is true.

 

With the development of advanced technology, ‘cures’ are now emerging.

 

In other words, ‘one-shot treatment’ technologies that can fundamentally treat diseases caused by genetic defects are currently being developed.

 

The key issue is whether the insurance models established in the past may embrace these innovative treatments.

 

Although the drugs are good news for the patients, as it is an unprecedented technological advance, new financing methods and insurance models need to be introduced to allow the innovative drugs to be included in Korea's systems and policies.

 

The government has also made much effort to deal with this challenge, such as by implementing the ‘Safety and Support Act for Advanced Regenerative Medicine and Advanced Biopharmaceuticals.' From now on, it will be important to bring together the relevant organizations, government, and various stakeholders to create an appropriate model for the introduction of advanced treatments.

 

At this stage, it is too early to decisively point to a certain model and follow its direction.

 

With no precedents available, I believe much social discussion will be needed in the future.

 

- More countries, including the U.S.

 

and China, have been referencing Korea's drug prices for more than just advanced new drugs.

 

It seems ironic that the transparency of our system, which has led to more companies referencing Korea's prices, may ultimately cause supply difficulties in Korea. The phenomenon may seem positive.

 

in terms of sharing information and in verifying that Korea's position in the global market has risen to the level where other countries wish to refer to Korea's prices.

 

However, considering that Korea's drug prices are referenced in large overseas markets such as the US and China, and the influence power of Korea's price will continue to increases gradually, the dreaded situation of drugs being not released at all in Korea may really become a reality.

 

In other words, I am very concerned about the 'Korea passing phenomenon,' in which the introduction of new drugs to Korea becomes delayed due to Korea's reference pricing system.

 

KRPIA feels grateful the government made the decision to implement systems like RSA (Risk Sharing Agreement) as a means to overcome such situations.

 

Currently, drugs eligible for RSA are limited, therefore continuous support is required for the system to expand flexibly and to allow more drugs to overcome such difficulties by devising various models.

 

-‘Clinical investment’ cannot be left out when discussing the contributions made by multinational pharmaceutical companies.

 

However, research investment in Korea is undoubtedly concentrated on Phase 3 research.

 

Does KRPIA have plans to expand its funding to basic research? The association has been actively promoting and taking interest in domestic clinical trials and investment, as well as in the investment trend in the high value-added Phase 1 and 2 research.

 

According to an annual R&D investment status survey conducted by KRPIA, in addition to the overall size of the field, the field of basic research has also been growing continuously recently.

 

Discussions have been held to attract more early-phase clinical trials, and we encourage our members to also do so.

 

KRPIA expects to expand investment to basic clinical studies and will continue to make further efforts in the future.

 

- WIth regards to the direction discussed for KRPIA in the future, What is KPRIA's top priority challenge? Tackling challenges in the drug pricing system to allow the smoother introduction of new drugs is a priority.

 

Also, our key objective is to find ways to transparently and reasonably improve various systems to allow the approval, distribution, and introduction of new drugs.

 

More specifically, we need to find reasonable methods to flexibly expand the application of beneficial systems like the RSA and to utilize the scope, methodology, and real-world data in the PE exemption system.