The Pharmaceutical Market: South Korea

Additional Information

THE PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET: SOUTH KOREA - REVIEW

The implementation of the KORUS & EU-Korea Free-Trade Agreements (FTAs) will affect the South Korean pharmaceutical market. In November 2011, the KORUS FTA was approved, which is set to come into effect in January 2012. The KORUS FTA will include the phasing-out of tariffs for US drug companies and the introduction of a patent linkage system, whereby drug companies are unable to produce and sell generic drugs until the original patent expires. In July 2011, the EU-Korea FTA was implemented and it is expected to increase the volume and value of EU pharmaceuticals to South Korea due to an elimination of tariffs on EU exports.

In August 2011, the government and MOHW unveiled a set of plans to cut generic drug prices by up to a third, starting from 2012. These measures are expected to bring down the prices of some 8,776 registered drugs by around 17% on average. The MOHW has also decided to scrap the system whereby drug prices are graded in the order they were registered with the National Health Insurance system, in a bid to accelerate development of generic drugs as soon as the patents of the original drugs expire. Instead, payments for the same drugs will be capped irrespective of manufacturer to induce competition among pharmaceutical companies to develop better quality drugs.

The biologic sector in South Korea continues to witness rapid growth. A number of competitive strategies were completed in the second half of 2011: VaxInnate granted CJ an exclusive licence to manufacture, develop and commercialise its recombinant seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines; Samsung and Biogen Idec agreed to establish a joint-venture to develop, manufacture and market biosimilars; Dong-A and Japan’s Meiji Seika Pharma announced an agreement for the joint development of biosimilar products; and Binex signed a strategic alliance MOU with Schnell Biopharm for biologics and also signed an agreement with Hanwha Chemical to produce a biosimilar.

ENHANCED STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE

Espicom's highly regarded world pharmaceutical market reports have been redesigned to provide enhanced strategic intelligence in a user-friendly format. Each report provides in-depth information, setting the pharmaceutical market in context. The reports provide:

Five-year projections for economic, demographic, health expenditure, health workforce and pharmaceutical market indicators.
Specialised intelligence on OTCs, generics, biologics and biosimilars.
Exclusive economic and demographic data from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for each market in the series.
A separate statistical health file, comprising health expenditure, health infrastructure, health services and health personnel.
The reports are updated quarterly, providing you with the latest information for a full year. In addition, the service will keep you up to date with market and industry news on a regular basis.

HEALTHCARE STATISTICS

A comprehensive tabula review, comprising demographics, epidemiology, health expenditure, hospital and primary care infrastructure & services and healthcare personnel, is additionally included.

Related Pages:

Pharmaceutical Market Singapore

Pharmaceutical Market Taiwan

More Information...


HIGHLY DETAILED REPORT CONTENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Including Espicom's at a glance strategic analysis and key data projections

MACROENVIRONMENT
Political, economic, legal and demographic analysis

EPIDEMIOLOGY
Disease burden and prevalence

HEALTHCARE
Organisation, expenditure, infrastructure, services and workforce

REGULATORY AFFAIRS
Regulatory developments and marketing registration/authorisation

PRICING & REIMBURSEMENT

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

MARKET ANALYSIS
Projections, product development, manufacturing and trade

COMPETITION
Trade associations, trade fairs, company intelligence and competitive strategies

OTC PHARMACEUTICALS

GENERIC PHARMACEUTICALS

BIOLOGICS & BIOSIMILARS

OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES
Espicom's unique strategic analysis

DIRECTORY

METHODOLOGY & SOURCES