Hee-mok Won, Chairman of Pharmaceutical Bio Association
“For medicines using domestic ingredients,
I have to raise the health benefits and drug prices”
As a key to suggesting’incentives’ to the government
The Pharmaceutical Bio Association presented a blueprint to raise the self-sufficiency rate of drug substance, which is currently around 16%, to 50% within 5 years. This is because it is a prerequisite for protecting’pharmaceutical sovereignty’, which operates drugs in a state that can always be self-sufficient. To this end, it was decided to suggest a plan to the government to give incentives, such as setting higher prices for drugs covered by health insurance benefits for drugs using domestic ingredients.
Won Hee-mok, chairman of the Korea Pharmaceutical Bio Association (photo), held an online press conference on the 27th and said, “The reason Korea has not suffered from a shortage of drugs despite the corona 19 pandemic is because it has the level of drug development capabilities and solid production infrastructure of advanced countries. In terms of drug substance alone, it is difficult to say that it has secured’pharmaceutical sovereignty’.”
According to the association, the self-sufficiency rate for finished drugs is at 74%, whereas the self-sufficiency rate for drug substances remains at 16%. If the raw materials for pharmaceuticals imported from overseas are cut off, the self-sufficiency rate of finished pharmaceuticals will inevitably fall.
Chairman Won said, “We plan to raise the self-sufficiency rate to 50% level after 5 years by selecting 200 urgently localized ingredients out of 2,000 ingredients,” he said. “As domestic ingredients are relatively expensive, “We need a policy to do it.” He also added, “We are in discussions with the government on ways to support the establishment of production facilities and provide tax benefits to pharmaceutical companies using domestic ingredients.”
Chairman Won argued that the scale of government support for the development of a vaccine and treatment for Corona 19 should also be increased. He said, “The US government has provided trillions of subsidies to Pfizer Modena, etc., but the Korean government’s total COVID-19-related budget is only 2627 billion won,” he said. “Korean pharmaceutical companies that are developing corona vaccines and treatments have a sudden pandemic. In the event of damage (such as paying development costs) due to the termination, the government also suggested a plan to compensate.”
Chairman Won said that it also requested the establishment of a control tower to oversee policies to foster the health industry. He said, “Because of the nature of the pharmaceutical industry, consistent and bold support from the government is needed,” he appealed to the president to establish a new organization under the direct control of the president, integrating all processes from basic research to clinical trials and entering the global market.
President Won, a former pharmacist, served as the president of the Korea Pharmaceutical Association and the 18th member of the National Assembly, and was inaugurated as president of the Pharmaceutical Bio Association in 2017. Earlier this year, he succeeded in his second consecutive term. The term of office is until January 2023.
Reporter Oh Sang-heon [email protected]
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