BT public-private council will soon resume operations

Awaiting generic price cuts

It is expected to be submitted to the deliberation committee after the preferential plan is confirmed by the consultative body in early September or October

Generic drug pricing system expected to be discussed in earnest next year after study is completed this year

The Ministry of Health and Welfare is expected to soon resume the operation of the 'BT (breakthrough therapy) Public-Private Council', a pharmaceutical industry discussion body necessary for establishing and implementing BT price preference policies.

 

The Ministry of Health and Welfare is expected to establish standards for preferential drug prices based on the results of discussions at the BT public-private consultative body held from February to April, and then finalize them after gathering opinions from the pharmaceutical industry at the public-private consultative body, which is scheduled to resume as early as this month.

 

In the case of the public-private consultative body to reform the generic drug price system, there has been no concrete movement yet, and as the Ministry of Health and Welfare has begun research on the form of private contracts, the atmosphere is waiting until the research is completed and the analysis of the results is completed.

 

According to the pharmaceutical industry on the 11th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare recently met with three pharmaceutical organizations along with NHIS and HIRA and held a public-private consultative body to discuss pending issues of reforming the drug price system.

 

At this meeting, the Ministry of Health and Welfare reportedly announced plans to resume the public-private consultative body in the near future and confirm the BT preferential treatment standards in response to inquiries from the three pharmaceutical organizations regarding the BT preferential drug price policy.

 

It has been reported that the Ministry of Health and Welfare's position is to partially accept the demands of the three pharmaceutical groups not to announce preferential policies without prior discussion or to immediately submit them to the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee agenda.

 

Pharmaceutical industry officials are observing that the Ministry of Health and Welfare has already reached the stage of completing the internal establishment of BT preferential standards and measures.

 

It is explained that the Innovative New Drug Public-Private Consultative Body, which will be launched in September at the earliest or early October at the latest, will decide on what criteria and how to give preferential treatment to the prices of drugs made by innovative pharmaceutical companies.

 

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and NHIS have announced plans to announce BT preferential measures within September at a National Assembly debate and press conference.

 

The public-private consultative body that will discuss the generic drug price system, including comprehensive generic drug price cuts, is showing no significant movement.

 

Previously, in July, the Ministry of Health and Welfare signed a private contract with Professor Kim Dong-sook of Kongju University's research team for a research project to 'prepare a plan to improve the generic drug price system', so the pharmaceutical industry predicts that the implementation of the system related to generic drug price reduction will be delayed until the study is completed and the results are analyzed.

 

This is the consensus of experts.

 

Last April, under the direction of Second Vice Minister Park Min-soo, the Generic Drug Price System TFT was formed and the reform of the drug price system was initiated.

 

Compared to the time when the pharmaceutical industry expressed concern that the government might immediately move to reduce generic drug prices in batches, some portion of the system has not been implemented.

 

It has been delayed.

 

An official in the domestic pharmaceutical industry explained, “We requested the Ministry of Health and Welfare to publicly announce the drug price preferential treatment plan after going through the BT public-private consultative body and go through a sound review process, and they responded that they would accept it.” He explained, “Research on the generic drug price system reform plan, including generic drug price cuts, is scheduled to be studied until this year, and discussions are expected to begin only after next year.” This official said, “Fear or backlash over the wholesale price cut for generics has been delayed until the end of the study, but just reevaluating the comparison of overseas drug prices right now is a significant burden on pharmaceutical companies.” He added, “I hope that the Ministry of Health and Welfare will create the system together rather than unilaterally establish the system and then go through a formal opinion-gathering process.”