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- 2026-04-10 08:38:10
- Company
- LG Chem releases DPP-4+SGLT-2 combo Zemidapa Tab
- by Kim, Jin-Gu Apr 06, 2023 05:53am
- On the 4th, LG Chem announced it will be releasing its new antidiabetic combination drug ‘Zemidapa Tab’ on the 8th. Zemidapa is a fixed-dose combination of the DPP-4 inhibitor class market leader Zemiglo (gemigliptin) and SGLT-2 inhibitor class market leader dapagliflozin (Product name: Forxiga). Zemidapa is the only option that offers a combination of the said two ingredients. According to the amendment made to the reimbursement of antidiabetic combination therapies that are applied from this month, Zemiglo will be allowed to be additionally prescribed to patients taking metformin and SGLT-2 inhibitors whose glucose level is not properly controlled. Zemidapa will be allowed to be prescribed with reimbursement starting on the 1st of next month. LG Chem conducted a Phase III trial on 748 patients whose blood sugar is not adequately controlled with existing two-drug combination therapy. The company had invested over KRW 20 billion in the clinical trial. Results showed that the three-drug Zemiglo+metformin+dapagliflozin combination has a greater blood glucose level improvement effect than the two-drug combination (metformin+dapagliflozin or Zemiglo+metformin). In-Cheol Hwang, Head of LG Chem’s Chronic Disease Business Unit, said, "The combination of the DPP-4 inhibitor that stimulates insulin production and the SGLT-2 inhibitor that excretes glucose from the body, have a complementary therapeutic effect. By securing large-scale clinical evidence in domestic patients, and building on the unique competitiveness of Zemidapa of being the only combination of the two ingredients, we plan to continue to lead the KRW 1 trillion domestic diabetes market.” In line with the release of Zemidapa, LG Chem plans to hold symposiums to inform about the clinical efficacy of Zemidapa for healthcare professionals in the nation. After launching Zemiglo, a new diabetes drug developed by LG Chem in 2012, the company has additionally launched the combinations Zemimet and Zemiro based on Zemiglo. According to UBIST, a market research institute, prescriptions for the Zemiglo product line last year recorded KRW 133 billion.
- Company
- NeuroBo, a subsidiary of Dong-A ST, applies for NASH candida
- by Apr 06, 2023 05:53am
- A researcher at Dong-A ST is testing a candidate substance. (Photo by Dong-A ST)Dong-A ST announced on the 4th that its US subsidiary NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals has applied to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a phase 2 clinical trial plan for NASH treatment candidate DA-1241. This clinical trial will be conducted for 16 weeks on 87 patients with NASH. It is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-comparison clinical trial to confirm the efficacy and safety of DA-1241. NeuroBo plans to initiate phase 2 clinical trials for DA-1241 in the US within the third quarter of this year. The target study end date is the second half of 2024. DA-1241 is a first-in-class mechanism of action on GPR119. The possibility of developing it as a NASH treatment was confirmed in preclinical trials. After administration of DA-1241, improvement effects such as liver cirrhosis, inflammation, fibrosis, lipid metabolism, and glucose control were observed. NASH is a disease in which triglycerides accumulate in liver cells regardless of alcohol intake. It is characterized by inflammation and fibrosis in the liver. If the symptoms are severe, they can cause liver diseases such as liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver failure. Its prevalence is 2-4% worldwide and 3-5% in the United States, but it is a disease with high unmet medical demand because there is no treatment yet. NeuroBo is a NASDAQ-listed company located in Boston, USA, and is responsible for the global development and commercialization of DA-1241 and DA-1726. DA-1726 is being developed as a treatment for obesity and NASH. It is a candidate substance that induces weight loss by simultaneously acting on the GLP-1 receptor and the glucagon receptor to suppress appetite, promote insulin secretion, and increase peripheral basal metabolism. In addition to the weight loss effect, the possibility of developing a NASH treatment was confirmed through preclinical studies. NeuroBo plans to apply for a phase 1 clinical trial of DA-1726.
- Company
- Zuellig Pharma Korea turns profitable in 6 years
- by Apr 06, 2023 05:53am
- Zuellig Pharma Korea, a global drug distribution company, escaped from complete capital impairment last year (total capital was negative). Operating profit also turned to black for the first time in six years. We are concentrating our efforts on improving performance by significantly reducing SG&A. According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 4th, Zuellig Pharma Korea recorded sales of 885.3 billion won and an operating profit of 900 million won last year. Sales decreased by 2.7% from 909.9 billion won in the previous year, but operating profit turned to black from a deficit of 13.9 billion won. This is the effect of reducing SG&A by more than W10bn. In 2021, Zuellig Pharma Korea spent 94.1 billion won on SG&A. Last year, it decreased by 11.3 billion won to 82.8 billion won. In particular, the amount of wage payments plummeted from 32.5 billion won the previous year to 18.4 billion won. Earnings improved, and the company was able to escape from a complete capital impairment that had lasted for two years. Complete capital encroachment refers to a state in which a company has no surplus due to a large deficit, and even the paid-in capital has been eroded, resulting in a negative total capital. Zuellig Pharma Korea was completely capital impaired with a total capital of -1.5 billion won and -14.5 billion won in 2020 and 2021. Last year, the capital impairment rate was significantly lowered to 85.4%. Even if not complete capital impairment, partial capital impairment, in which the total capital is smaller than the capital stock, continues. This is because the company still has a deficit of 22 billion won. Zuellig Pharma Korea's poor performance began in earnest in 2017. A situation where sales increased but no profit occurred for five consecutive years. In 2017, the company's sales increased by 9.2% from the previous year to 971 billion won, while net profit turned into a loss from 3.1 billion won to -1.8 billion won. In 2019, sales exceeded 1 trillion won for the first time, but the net loss widened further. The loss in 2021 reached 10 billion won. Every year, the net loss led to the depletion of retained earnings and the accumulation of deficits, causing the debt ratio to rise out of control. The debt ratio, which was 1340% in 2017, soared to 30,000% at the end of 2019. In the end, it fell into complete capital encroachment in 2020. Although performance improved last year, the debt ratio is still at a risky level of 15435%. As Zuellig Pharma Korea is an unlisted company, there are no direct sanctions for capital erosion. Listed companies are subject to delisting if they have a complete capital impairment or a capital impairment rate of 50% or more for two consecutive years. However, excessive debt can adversely affect business operations. Trade payables account for most of Zuellig Pharma Korea's total liabilities. Trade payables, which are money to be paid to pharmaceutical companies that purchased drugs, reached 271.9 billion won as of the end of last year.
- Company
- Onureg, PO acute leukemia drug, is scheduled to be proposed
- by Eo, Yun-Ho Apr 06, 2023 05:53am
- Onureg, a maintenance therapy for acute myeloid leukemia, is on its way to entering insurance coverage. As a result of the coverage, Onureg is scheduled to be presented to the Pharmaceutical Reimbursement Evaluation Committee of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service on the 6th. It has been about four months since the passage of the Cancer Diseases Review Committee in December of last year. On March 23, 2022, this drug was approved for maintenance therapy in adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia who achieved CR or CRi after induction therapy, with or without consolidation therapy, and for whom HSCT is unsuitable. As the first and only treatment option that clinically extended the survival period for AML patients unable to undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplantation who had failed to prolong OS despite several R&D attempts over the years, the critical question is whether Onureg can be recognized for its clinical value. Onureg confirmed the efficacy and safety in phase 3 clinical trial of QUAZAR AML-001 in 472 patients with AML. As a result of the study, the mOS of the patient group who took Onureg was 24.7 months, extending the survival time by about 10 months compared to 14.8 months of the placebo group. At 1 year and 2 years of treatment, the survival rate in the Onurec group was 73% (vs. 56% vs. placebo group) and 51% (vs. 37% vs. placebo group), respectively, all higher than those in the placebo group. RFS also confirmed that the Onureg group reached 10.2 months, 5.4 months longer than the placebo group (4.8 months), reducing the risk of recurrence. The proportion of patients without recurrence after 6 months of treatment was 67% in the Onureg group and 45% in the placebo group. Meanwhile, Onureg has been recognized for its clinical usefulness in major overseas countries such as the UK and Australia and is being recommended for reimbursement to patients to be treated.
- Policy
- Generics for Forxiga will be released simultaneously on the
- by Lee, Tak-Sun Apr 06, 2023 05:53am
- Chong Kun Dang, Hanmi, Donga ST, Jeil, Boryeong, Daewon, etc. new products launched As generics of the SGLT-2 diabetes treatment drug Forxiga (Dapagliflozin, AstraZeneca) were released simultaneously on the 8th, the related market is expected to intensify. Last year, outpatient prescription sales of Xigduo, a single drug combining Forxiga and Metformin, were 91.4 billion won (Forxiga's sales were 48.5 billion won, Xigduo's sales were 42.9 billion won), and a large market is forming. From the 8th, a total of 149 items (89 single drugs, 60 complex drugs) of Dapagliflozin will be covered by insurance, and fierce competition will unfold for the 90 billion won market. According to the industry on the 5th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that 149 dapagliflozin diabetes treatment drugs would be added to the benefits list from the 8th. Including the two items of Dong-A ST Dapapro, which were on the existing list, a total of 151 Dapagliflozin active ingredient drugs are covered by health insurance. As the market size is large, generics include many large companies. Chong Kun Dang, Hanmi Pharm, Jeil Pharm, Boryung, and Daewon Pharm, which introduced salt-altering drugs, including Dong-A ST, which entered the market first through prodrugs last December, will enter the market. As Forxiga is the first original drug in the SGLT-2 series whose patent has expired, and Daewoong Pharmaceutical, which owns Envlo, is the only domestic company that owns SGLT-2, it is analyzed that large companies have also participated en masse in the generics market. The drugs entering the market this time include 5mg and 10mg of single active ingredients of Dapagliflozin, Metformin 1000mg + Dapagliflozin 10mg, Metformin 500mg + Dapagliflozin 10mg, Metformin 500mg + Dapagliflozin 5mg, and Metformin 1000mg + Dapagliflozin 5mg. Dapagliflozin 5mg is a drug for which the original drug is also registered for reimbursement. Therefore, it is expected that the effect of increasing the market size will be large with the introduction of generics. The upper limit is 262 to 342 won for Dapagliflozin 5mg and 334 to 514 won for 10mg. The highest price of Dapagliflozin 5mg is Dong-A ST Dapapro 5mg. The highest price of 10mg includes Dong-A ST Dapapro 10mg, Hanmi Pharmaceutical Dapalon 10mg, Boryung Trudapa 10mg, Kyungdong Pharmaceutical Dapazin 10mg, Sinil Foxigly 10mg, Han Wha Posilozin 10mg, KUKJE PHARM Focidi 10mg, Daewon Dapaone 10mg, etc. The most expensive drugs are prodrugs or salt-altering drugs, priced at 70% of the original upper limit. On April 8 next year, the additional price will end, and the drug prices will all be the same at 53.55% of the highest price. In the case of a single agent, 5mg is 262 won, and 10mg is 393 won. An official from the pharmaceutical industry explained, "As Forxiga accounts for a large portion of the diabetes treatment market, and since the combination of SGLT-2 drugs has been expanded since April, expectations for generics are also high."
- Company
- Patients and policy are trending in the pharma industry
- by Eo, Yun-Ho Apr 06, 2023 05:53am
- The opening of new positions that didn’t exist before indicates the considerable need for the positions. Recently, Korean subsidiaries of multinational pharmaceutical companies that mainly supply new drugs have opened up two new positions - GA (Government Affairs) and PA (Patient Advocacy). The changes seem to be in line with the trend in the new drug industry. In the era of ‘high-priced new drugs,’ the government and pharmaceutical industries are having difficulty seeing eye-to-eye when setting the drug price, and the reimbursement listing of new drugs has become the factor that determines the success or failure of a new drug. Issues that cannot be resolved through direct communication with ‘relevant ministries’ have been accumulating,, and pharmaceutical companies have been searching for new methods of communication like the National Assembly. As a result, the need to connect with the National Assembly, patients, the government (other than directly related ministries), and the media has risen. ◆External affairs personnel increased by 1.6 times during the past 5 years...18 people were newly hired So how many have actually increased? According to Dailypharm's coverage, the GA and PA personnel at 15 major multinational companies increased by 158% over the past five years. The number, which had been 31 people in 2018 became 49 as of 2023. 9 companies have increased recruitment during the period, and one company had newly established a department. Companies including Novartis, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Sanofi, Astellas Pharma, Amgen, and Janssen have all more than doubled their relevant workforce. MSD has the most related personnel of 7 , followed by Janssen (6), Novartis (5), AstraZeneca (5), and Pfizer (5). More specifically, the 15 companies had 20 GA and 16 PA managers in total. Also, more than half of the multinational pharmaceutical companies had personnel in charge of the GA and PA tasks combined, a choice that the companies may have made due to the size of the company. Whatever the reason, the choice also reflects the fact that the two positions are closely related to each other. Among the 6 companies that showed no changes in the number of personnel in the area, 3 are planning to recruit more personnel this year. An executive from multinational pharmaceutical company A said, “Most of the companies had no GA or PA representatives 5 years ago. Usually, the MA representatives took care of the entire external affairs tasks. Considering the size of the Korean subsidiaries of multinational pharmaceutical companies, the number of people in the area has been increasing rapidly.” The official added, "Our company also has a small number of employees dealing with external affairs, but we have decided to hire two new people this year. Just as the MAs had in the past, we expect the roles of GA and PA will become increasingly important." ◆KRPIA organizes a separate committee...to increase patient focus The Korean Research-based Pharmaceutical Industry Association (KRPIA) is also focusing on its ‘Policy’ committee that focuses on government affairs. The Healthcare Policy Committee had been originally concurrently run by MA managers, and there was not much activity. But the times have changed. The committee is now receiving support from its board of directors which consists of multinational pharmaceutical company CEOs. A member of the board of directors at KRPIA said, "In addition to patients, the public's interest in new drugs has been increasing. Due to the rising interest, the association’s need to communicate with the National Assembly, civic groups, and patient groups has also increased. In order to reflect these needs, the KRPIA’s Healthcare Policy Committee needs to also increase its activity. This is a big agenda that the KRPIA is concentrating on these days.” A separate committee has not yet been established for patients. However, a separate task force in charge of ‘patients’ has been established and is active under KRPIA’s Public Affairs & Communications Committee. A KRPIA official said, “With the new drug reimbursement environment becoming increasingly difficult and patients' voices for rapid reimbursement of new drugs rising, pharmaceutical companies are seeking to find a win-win solution through communication and cooperation with the government and patients.” The official added, “The involvement of patient associations or patient groups is a basic consideration in most stages from the development of new drugs by pharmaceutical companies to the policy decision-making process of the government in the United States and Europe. The process of how well we work with the government and patients will become ever more important in drawing a social consensus."
- Policy
- Government's drug pricing policy
- by Lee, Jeong-Hwan Apr 05, 2023 05:48am
- The Ministry of Health and Welfare revealed its will to create a specific preferential drug price policy for innovative new drugs and essential drugs, and at the same time, it revealed a policy to use generic drugs by reducing drug prices, attracting attention. Recently, in the process of reviewing the amendment to the Special Act on the Promotion of the Pharmaceutical Industry, which was proposed by Rep. Jeong-sook Seo of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, the 1st Bill Subcommittee of the National Assembly, 2nd Vice Minister of Welfare Park Min-soo revealed the direction of the operation of the drug price policy. The key to the bill proposed by Rep. Seo Jeong-sook is to convert the arbitrary regulations on preferential drug prices for drugs made by innovative pharmaceutical companies into mandatory regulations. The Ministry of Health and Welfare expressed difficulties with the provision and virtually opposes it while promising to make a specific provision that can give preferential treatment to innovative pharmaceutical companies through consultation with the pharmaceutical industry and discussions at the National Assembly. Rep. Seo Jung-sook and Democratic Party lawmaker Nam In-soon expressed doubts about the position of the Ministry of Health and Welfare but decided to believe it. Rep. Seo said, "If you look at the administrative flow of the Ministry of Health and Welfare if you say 'can do', will it be possible to support innovative pharmaceutical companies to the extent of sending a message?" Rep. Nam, who introduced a bill with an arbitrary clause giving preferential treatment to innovative pharmaceutical companies four years ago, pointed out the administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which had not enacted sub-statutes, and even checked whether the WTO complaint problem was resolved. Rep. Nam said, “Is there any problem with the WTO complaint that I was concerned about? Vice Minister Park Min-soo said that he actively sympathized with the legislation that converts the preferential drug price provisions for drugs made by innovative pharmaceutical companies from voluntary regulations to mandatory regulations, but appealed that even if the amendments to mandatory regulations are ineffective. Vice Minister Park’s position was that the Ministry of Health and Welfare would come up with a specific drug price preferential policy through communication with the pharmaceutical industry even if the law was not changed due to the enforcement of preferential drug prices. In addition, he said that the drug price preferential policy for innovative pharmaceuticals was announced several times and the pharmaceutical industry was already aware of it and that the drug price preferential policy reflecting this was being communicated with the pharmaceutical industry. Vice Minister Park said, "There are few legislative precedents that revise the law to make it mandatory by saying that drug prices should be given preferential treatment. As the Ministry of Health and Welfare has already expressed its willingness to policy, if you keep an eye on it, we will come up with a policy plan by materializing the presidential decree and improving the health insurance drug pricing system." “It is a burden to do it as a duty,” he added. Vice-Minister Park said, "Even if the law is revised as 'must', even if the current drug price preferential system is not changed even one person, the revised law will not be violated." "For effectiveness, the government's will and policy direction must be firmly established. I raised the price of the drug I was using to 89 won. The preferential price for innovative drugs is steadily preparing and I have a firm will.” Vice Minister Park said, "In terms of WTO issues, most of the (preferential) targets are likely to become global companies if they are innovative pharmaceutical companies. The government's idea is to foster the domestic industry, but there was a dilemma in going global." are doing," he said. Regarding generic drug prices, it was clear that the system would be revamped in the direction of cutting. He is determined to operate the system so that pharmaceutical companies will no longer be seen engrossed in generic marketing competition rather than innovation, such as new drug discovery and research and development. Vice Minister Park said, "There has been a preference for generics so far, and now generics are being cut down mechanically and step by step in the order they come in." We just put in our effort," he said. "It is the Ministry of Health and Welfare's idea that this behavior should disappear from the industry and we will take action,” he added.
- Policy
- Countdown to initial non-face-to-face treatment
- by Lee, Jeong-Hwan Apr 05, 2023 05:48am
- Member of People’s Power Kim Seong-won (Photo: Congressman Kim Seong-won’s office blog)The Power of the People Together with Rep. Kim Seong-won, Democratic Party Rep. Kang Hoon-sik co-represented the National Assembly's startup research group'Unicorn Farm', which plans to propose a bill to amend the Medical Act to allow non-face-to-face treatment from the first visit on the 3rd. The representative initiative of the bill is Kim Seong-won (Dongducheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, Yeoncheon), and Rep. Kang Hoon-shik is listed on the list of co-sponsors. Rep. Kim Seong-won is active in the Industry, Trade, and Energy Small and Medium Venture Business Committee of the National Assembly. Rep. Kang Hoon-shik is the secretary of the Democratic Party of the Health and Welfare Committee. The core of the bill is to allow non-face-to-face treatment for patients specified by the Ordinance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, regardless of whether they are first or re-examinations if it is possible to improve medical accessibility without harming the patient's health. The bill stipulates the scope of non-face-to-face treatment as continuous observation of health and disease, diagnosis, consultation, hospital visit guidance, and prescription. On this day, an official from Unicorn Farm explained in a phone call with Daily Farm, “There have been complaints from non-face-to-face treatment platform companies such as the Telemedicine Industry Council (hereinafter referred to as Wonsanhyup), and we will propose a bill for non-face-to-face treatment for first-time patients soon.” The official explains that the first-time non-face-to-face treatment bill is being legislated at the level of Unicorn Farm, a startup research group. Rep. Kim Seong-won, a member of the ruling party and a co-representative of Unicorn Farm, said that he agreed with the complaints regarding the non-face-to-face treatment regulation of Wonsanhyup, a member of which includes Dr. Rep. Kang Hoon-sik, a member of the opposition party, is also known to be in the position that, as a co-representative of Unicorn Farm, it is necessary to discuss and review the bill for first-time non-face-to-face treatment in the National Assembly. However, Rep. Kang Hoon-sik, secretary of the opposition party of the Welfare Committee, is fully aware of the fact that first-time non-face-to-face treatment is strongly opposed by the healthcare community, so he plans to put it on the discussion table to collect and deliberate various opinions from doctors, pharmacists, platform companies, and patients. Previously, Congressman Kang proposed a unicorn farm-level bill as a representative on the 13th of last month. The medical advertisement platform proposal, such as Gangnam Unni, was the starting point, and the amendment to the Medical Act that allows the Ministry of Health and Welfare to intervene in the review standards of the Medical Advertisement Deliberation Committee, which is composed of functional groups such as doctors, oriental doctors, and dentists, is that. This time, following Rep. Kang, Rep. Kim Seong-won accepted the proposal of a non-face-to-face treatment platform such as Wonsanhyup and introduced a bill to allow first-time non-face-to-face treatment. The first non-face-to-face treatment bill, which Congressman Kim is about to propose, allows non-face-to-face treatment from the first visit, except in cases where there are special restrictions. It is a legislative measure to address concerns that platform companies will go bankrupt if non-face-to-face treatment is allowed only for returning patients, and the scope of non-face-to-face treatment is specified in a negative regulatory manner rather than a positive regulation. When Kim's bill is proposed, for the first time, the National Assembly will review a first-time non-face-to-face treatment bill. All four non-face-to-face treatment bills proposed so far are bills centered on returning patients that do not allow first visits. Democratic Party lawmakers Kang Byung-won, Choi Hye-young, and Shin Hyun-young and People’s Power Congressman Lee Jong-seong have each proposed a representative initiative. An official from Unicorn Farm said, "It is a bill that allows non-face-to-face treatment for patients specified by the Ordinance of the Ministry of Health and Welfare if it can increase medical access without harming the patient's health." The scope of non-face-to-face treatment includes continuous observation of disease, diagnosis, consultation, hospital visit guidance, and prescription.” Meanwhile, the research purpose of Unicorn Farm, a research group of the National Assembly, is regulation rationalization, policy development, and related legislative measures to support the growth of startups and venture companies.
- Product
- Prescription of flu Txs rise with the spread of influenza A
- by Kang, Hye-Kyung Apr 05, 2023 05:48am
- Pharmacies are busy dispensing treatments due to the resurgence of influenza A, which has become prevalent again after December last year. Although a flu outbreak in March, the start of the new school year, is common, due to the lifting of the mask-wearing regulation and the varying temperature in the spring season, the adeno, rhino, paraviruses, and pneumonia are spreading at the same time, and turning into a full-blown epidemic. Flu prescriptions have been increasing with the spread of influenza A According to the pharmaceutical industry, prescriptions for flu treatments (oseltamivir phosphate) have been increasing with the resurgence of influenza A. In addition, the number of patients visiting hospitals for colds and high fevers has also increased, leading to an increased number of prescriptions and dispensing for those patients. Pharmacist A who owns a pharmacy near an otolaryngology hospital said, “We started to receive flu prescriptions one by one since last week, and the number of prescriptions has been increasing. There are cases where 4-5 students from one class is being diagnosed with the flu. So we are using the flu treatments that I had set out to one side to return.” According to the pharmacist, patients are being prescribed oseltamivir alone or with cold medicines. The pharmacist said, “Although some of the suspension powders are out of stock, we have stockpiled some drugs during the flu epidemic last year, and we also have 30mg and 45mg formulations in stock, so I don’t think there will be a stock shortage situation.” Another pharmacist, B, said, “This season’s flu is characterized by chills, headache, muscle pain, cough, sore throat, etc. along with high fever. I think respiratory diseases are spreading due to the lifting of the mask-wearing regulation and the varying temperature in the spring season. In addition to the flu, the adeno, rhino, parainfluenza viruses, and pneumonia are also spreading.” According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the proportion of suspected influenza patients (patients with suspected symptoms) was 13.2 per 1,000 outpatients, which is an increase from 11.7 in the previous week, and 2.7 times higher than the epidemic standard of 4.9. Also by pathogen detection rates, 4.9% of the patients were detected with influenza, 16.4% with rhinovirus, and 10.4% with the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Among hospital inpatients with acute respiratory infections, 31.9% were reported with rhinovirus, 27.9 with RSV, and 15.9% with parainfluenza virus. New patients with severe acute respiratory infections also increased, with influenza at 3.5% and pneumonia at 52.1%. Care Insight (www.careinsight.co.kr), an on-site pharmacy data analysis service, analyzed the number of flu prescriptions from March 26th to April 1st this year and found that the amount increased by 3.3% compared to the previous week. Pharmacist B said, “Students from the same class are leaving early or submitting a leave of absence due to the flu, and the wait time at otolaryngology clinics increased to exceed an hour in general.” Due to this spread of respiratory diseases in schools, local governments have been recommending influenza vaccination to children and pregnant women "Children that go to school as well as pregnant women who may have an increased risk of complications such as premature birth and childbirth of underweight infants with infection, should be vaccinated. Children aged 6 months to 13 and pregnant women are eligible for free vaccinations by April 30, therefore, if you are eligible, it’s not too late. Visit a designated medical institution and get vaccinated."
- Product
- No. of Paxlovid prescriptions drop at pharmacies
- by Jung, Heung-Jun Apr 05, 2023 05:47am
- Contrary to the government’s plans to expand the number of pharmacies in charge of COVID-19 treatments to 6,000, the number has not increased from 4,000 due to reduced prescriptions. Moreover, pharmacies handling the COVID-19 treatments are predicting that more pharmacies would be applying to cancel their designation from the second half of the year. As the disease control and prevention authorities plan to stop providing free COVID-19 treatments in the first half of next year, pharmacies that currently supply the drugs will also have to set up an exit strategy. Pharmacy A from Seoul said, “Prescriptions are at most 1-2 a day. In the meantime, the government increased the number of pharmacies, and hospitals reduced their prescriptions. So there is no reason to increase the number of pharmacies. Some pharmacies may wish to immediately drop their supply, but many are keeping their stockpile just in case patients come.” The proportion of COVID-19 patients over the age of 60 who are eligible to use oral treatments has also been gradually decreasing. According to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the daily average number of confirmed COVID-19 cases remained in the 10,000 range, and the proportion of confirmed patients over the age of 60 decreased from 26.2% in the first week of March to 21.7% in the fourth week. Both the number of confirmed cases and the proportion of patients over the age of 60 are declining (Source: KDCA) 7,981 patients over the age of 60 were prescribed oral COVID-19 treatments in the second week of this month. When making simple calculations and dividing it by the 4,000 pharmacies, this is equivalent to each pharmacy dispensing two courses of oral COVID-19 treatments a week. With the prescription rate not rising as expected, there have been talks about providing incentives to prescribing doctors. In March, Gi-Seok Jeong, Director-General of the Special Response of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, requested the government to consider providing a separate fee for COVID-19 prescriptions. Although the degree may vary depending on the pharmacy, pharmacies have been experiencing a sharp drop in prescriptions of COVID-19 treatments in general. Pharmacy B in Gyeonggi Province said, “In the past, patients from far away came or reached me for prescriptions, but due to an increase in pharmacies that supply the treatments, I haven’t seen any patients for quite some time.” Pharmacy C in Seoul said, “The number of prescriptions decreased much and is rare these days. With the number of contraindicated drugs increasing, hospitals now do not seem to be actively prescribing them if they are not necessary, he said. "However, no pharmacy in our region has canceled their designation yet." The treatment will be supplied free of charge until this year. Patients will be charged a fee from the first half of next year. (Source: KDCA) Also, the authorities recently announced their plan to offer free treatment only until the second half of this year under a phased program. Under the program, COVID-19 treatments will be applied health insurance from the first half of next year. However, since oral COVID-19 drugs are expensive and cost around KRW 900,000, the key question is how much of the actual cost should be borne by the patients. Pharmacies expect a steeper drop in prescriptions when free supply is discontinued. Pharmacy A said, "An increasing number of pharmacies will stop supplying them before an insurance copayment rate is set, and I expect that will be around the end of the year."
