DPK’s election pledge includes substitution dispensing

Includes allowance of dispensing substitute drugs and new drug R&D pricing incentives

“Unlimited non-face-to-face medical care is an issue... drug delivery should be discussed at a later time”

“Pledges such as substitution dispensing were prepared as a measure to solve drug shortages,”

Won-Joon Choi, senior expert advisor on health and welfare for the Democratic Party of Korea, reveals DPK’s direction of the election pledges

The Democratic Party of Korea will include a policy to support domestically developed new drugs through a drug pricing system that links the investment rate (amount) of research and development (R&D) by pharmaceutical companies with a drug’s insurance price ceiling and drug price reduction rate in its presidential election pledge.

 

DPK’s intention is to lead the development of the pharmaceutical and bio-industry, which is a future growth engine for the country, by enabling pharmaceutical companies that are constantly striving to evolve and create new drugs to benefit from the government's efforts rather than those intent on generic sales.

 

In particular, since the Korean pharmaceutical industry is still dominated by generic drug manufacturing, the Democratic Party of Korea is also looking into whether maintaining the current tiered drug pricing system would be of practical help to the industry's development.

 

The DPK is also considering ways to reasonably legislate the Seok-yeol Yoon administration's pilot project for unlimited non-face-to-face medical care and ways to resolve the supply and demand instability of medicines, including the promotion of alternative dispensing, to adopt them as presidential campaign pledges.

 

Recently, Won-Joon Cho, the senior expert advisor for health and welfare at the Democratic Party of Korea(and the head of the presidential election pledge task force for the policy committee) held a meeting with the Press Corp and revealed the direction of the presidential election pledges related to the pharmaceutical and bio-industry and the health industry.

 

◆Pharmaceutical and bio-industry promotion measures=The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) agreed that the pharmaceutical and bio-industry is an industry that drives future growth of South Korea, but also recognized that it is a field that has a dual nature that requires regulation due to safety concerns.

 

This is why there are differences in the views of pharmaceutical and bio industries among government ministries such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), the Ministry of Science and ICT, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE).

 

In this situation, Cho said, “The Democratic Party of Korea will definitely improve unnecessary administrative procedures or excessive regulations that hinder the promotion of the pharmaceutical and bio-industry and the creation of new domestic drugs.

 

However, we will make sure that excessive deregulation does not lead to distrust of products or the industry as a whole.” This is because the pharmaceutical industry is directly linked to the lives and safety of the people, and at the same time, it has the special characteristic of being the future food of the nation.

 

Cho said that he has been preparing pledges based on 3 principles: ▲expanding investment and support, ▲reorganizing the current support system, and ▲strengthening social responsibility to promote the pharmaceutical and bio industry.

 

“We will come up with a concrete performance-based R&D policy and adopt a system that rewards drug prices in proportion to the R&D investment ratio,” said Cho, adding, ”We are also paying attention to the opinion that the tiered drug pricing system needs to be improved to make it more intuitive and reasonable.” He added, “Even when a pharmaceutical company wants to contribute to society, in many cases, the scope is narrow.

 

We are considering making pledges to support the diversification of social contribution methods by improving the innovative pharmaceutical company certification system, among others.

 

We will include a policy to support pharmaceutical companies that export domestically produced new drugs overseas, rather than for Korea’s industry structure built around generics, as our presidential election pledges.” In particular, he said, “As we operate a generic-based industrial structure, there is a side to the issue of illegal rebates that cannot be abolished no matter how much the system is improved.

 

I believe we should put support for overseas expansion and export pharmaceuticals into a separate package of pledges.

 

There are also big concerns in the pharmaceutical industry about the Trump administration, and DPK is looking at countermeasures for the pharmaceutical industry from a broader perspective of trade.” ◆Seeking solutions to the instability of non-face-to-face medical care and drug supply = Cho said that DPK escapes criticism that it pretends to seek progressive politics but is hindering technological progress.

 

The point is that DPK often has to consider what attitude it should take when faced with social and public demands for medical policies that are integrated with the IT industry, such as non-face-to-face medical care.

 

Nevertheless, Cho emphasized that healthcare policies that are closely related to the health and lives of the people cannot be focused solely on fostering and promoting them as an industrial framework.

 

The current government was criticized for conducting non-face-to-face medical care as a tool for industrial development for an unlimited period - for years - based on the enforcement decree without amending the law, which is regarded abnormal.

 

“The healthcare sector is also making technological progress together with the high-tech IT industry.

 

However, due to the nature of healthcare, if the basic premise of public safety is not secured, the foundation of the policy may be shaken,” said Cho.

 

”It is difficult to lead healthcare policy with an overly industrial frame.

 

However, it is necessary to make pledges that reflect the reality and accept new systems and environmental changes with a flexible attitude.” He also criticized the former government, saying, “IT was a pilot project, so the biggest problem was that it is allowing non-face-to-face medical care that goes beyond the actual project without any legal basis.” He added, “There were no restrictions on the target, standards, scope, region, or time limit.

 

I have never seen a pilot project like this.

 

Serious illegal activities are continuing.” In response, the Democratic Party said that it will establish a legal basis as soon as possible so that the principle of non-face-to-face medical care can be established in this presidential election, and will hold the current government accountable for the background of the pilot project.

 

“The policy-making process that led to the current pilot project should be thoroughly investigated and held accountable,” said Cho, ”Non-face-to-face medical care is intended to supplement the public's access to medical care, but the results of the pilot project have become a tool and a window for prescribing anti-hair loss drugs and emergency contraception.

 

It is being used in a way that is completely different from its original purpose.” Regarding DPK’s direction for legalizing non-face-to-face medical care, he said, “Legislation is needed that includes not only the target, scope, and standards, but also the management and supervision of intermediary platforms.

 

Delivery of medicine is not an immediate problem.

 

It is not too late to decide on this issue when the basis for the Medical Service Act for Non-face-to-face medical care is created and additional discussions on the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act are held.” He also added, “We need to think about whether to adhere to the principle of non-face-to-face medical care that DPK proposed for the 21st National Assembly.

 

This is because we cannot ignore the fact that many people have experienced or are using non-face-to-face medical care.” He also emphasized, “Even if we adopt the principle of allowing only people with limited mobility and residents of remote areas, the law should cover areas where there is a great social demand, such as pediatric patients.” Finally, regarding the issue of instability in the supply of pharmaceuticals, he summarized it as “It is still a difficult problem to solve and an urgent task.

 

Policy-wise, we need to come up with alternatives.” “It is important to decide what policy agenda to adopt to address the issue of supply and demand instability.

 

For example, the ingredient-specific prescription is a very sensitive issue between different medical schools, so it is politically difficult to tackle,” said Cho.

 

”We will introduce the agenda of vitalizing substitute dispensing, which is inevitable to resolve supply and demand instability, even if we would need to discuss the conflict that may arise in the future.” He added, “There will be more and more direct conflicts over the scope of practice, and the DPK will strengthen the governance structure under the Healthcare Workforce Support Act to achieve consensus and social compromise among the professions in a consultative body with the participation of the relevant parties.” This is interpreted as the party’s intention to actively utilize the Healthcare Workforce Scope Adjustment Act, which is pending in the Legislative and Judicial Committee, initiated by Democratic Party member Yoon Kim.