Determinants of radical drug innovation: a systematic literature review

New drug accessibility and budgetary impact in South Korea: policy challenges and implications

BACKGROUND

To compare the accessibility indicators for new drugs in South Korea with those in the United States, Europe, and Japan, and examine the structure of pharmaceutical expenditures in South Korea.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Patient accessibility and budget impacts of new drugs were analyzed using two independent datasets. Accessibility was evaluated for 171 drugs approved between 2013 and 2022 based on reimbursement rates, time to listing post-approval, and international comparisons. Budget impact analysis covered 226 new drugs listed from 2012 to 2021, assessing expenditure patterns with an emphasis on risk-sharing agreements and financial implications for the National Health Insurance budget.

RESULTS

Among the 171 new drugs approved between 2013 and 2022, 67.8% were reimbursed as of 1 January 2024. Approval-to-reimbursement timelines varied by drug type and pricing pathway, with drugs listed via the weighted average price pathway receiving faster reimbursement than those evaluated through pharmacoeconomic evaluation. Between 2012 and 2021, new drugs constituted 8.5% of total pharmaceutical expenditures, with oncology drugs incurring the highest annual expenditure per product. Expenditure on new drugs peaked in 2019 but declined thereafter.

CONCLUSIONS

While South Korea has effectively controlled pharmaceutical expenditures, allocations for new drugs remain low compared to other major countries.

Towards Better Pharmaceutical Provision in Europe-Who Decides the Future?

Significant progress has been achieved in human health in the European Union in recent years. New medicines, vaccines, and treatments have been developed to tackle some of the leading causes of disease and life-threatening illnesses. It is clear that investment in research and development (R&D) for innovative medicines and treatments is essential for making progress in preventing and treating diseases. Ahead of the legislative process, which should begin by the end of 2022, discussions focus on how Europe can best promote the huge potential benefits of new science and technology within the regulatory framework. The challenges in European healthcare were spelled out by the panellists at the roundtable organised by European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM). Outcomes from panellists' discussions have been summarized and re-arranged in this paper under five headings: innovation, unmet medical need, access, security of supply, adapting to progress, and efficiency. Some of the conclusions that emerged from the panel are a call for a better overall holistic vision of the future of pharmaceuticals and health in Europe and a collaborative effort among all stakeholders, seeing the delivery of medicines as part of a broader picture of healthcare.

Open Innovation in R&D

Breakthrough innovations are crucial drivers of economic progress, often depending on external knowledge sources to complement internal knowledge. Co-patenting is one way to achieve this by implementing open innovation within research and development. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of co-patenting on breakthrough innovations in the pharmaceutical industry. A research question is tested empirically using an archival dataset comprising 866 patents in Pharma. The findings show that co-patenting has a significant positive impact on breakthrough innovations. Short of previous investigation, this paper provides new empirical insights on the open innovation and co-patenting levels, leading to both academic and practical implications on the field.