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Policy
Detailed screening for α -GPC begins in earnest next year
by Moon, sung-ho Dec 07, 2021 05:57am
Tensions are rising as the government announces the review of the revised supplementary budget bill starting next year amid deepening concerns among pharmaceutical companies over the issue of Choline Alfoscerate. According to the pharmaceutical industry and the medical community on the 1st, it has been confirmed that the MOHW has decided to strengthen the screening of prescriptions for hospitals and clinics starting next year in accordance with the clinical re-evaluation policy for Choline Alfoscerates. Over the past two years, the MOHW has set the first target of strengthening screening according to the drug clinical re-evaluation policy as the Choline Alfoscerate formulation. In fact, the Choline Alfoscerate drug is recognized as a drug in Italy, while it is sometimes used as a health functional food in other countries, so controversy over its efficacy has continued. The MFDS ordered a "clinical re-evaluation" last year to re-evaluate the Choline Alfoscerate formulation on its own, and 57 companies, including Daewoong Bio and Chong Kun Dang, have begun clinical re-evaluation. At the same time, the MOHW reduced the benefit of Choline Alfoscerate. Since August last year, patients who have not been diagnosed with dementia have raised the drug price burden rate from 30% to 80% when using Choline Alfoscerate. Then, pharmaceutical companies actively took legal action and began to defend their sales. However, unlike the pharmaceutical industry, which is preparing such a defense strategy, some say that the actual medical field has little impact on the reduction of benefits. It was expected to have a big impact as the government decided to reduce benefits, but the actual feeling at the medical field is quite low. "In fact, the HIRA is currently not cutting according to the reduced benefit policy," said a professor at University Hospital A belonging to Korean Dementia Association, who requested anonymity. "There is no big problem with maintaining similar billing guidelines," he said. In the end, the MOHW and the MFDS have strengthened their guidelines following the reduction in benefits, but they are actually prescribing them without paying much attention to them in the actual clinical field. This is why The HIRA has announced cuts through specific screening starting next year. An official from the HIRA said, "Strengthening the screening is a situation in which we have to go through the Central Review and Coordination Committee, an organization within the institution. He said, "It is not easy to apply a specific examination yet, but we will proceed quickly and strengthen the examination of prescriptions by medical institutions from next year."