April 7, Health Day, is a meaningful occasion to reflect on the noble value of promoting public health. As the head of an organization representing global research-driven pharmaceutical companies, I find myself deeply contemplating whether the industry's innovative efforts to address humanity's greatest challenges are truly reaching patients' lives, and what direction our healthcare system should pursue going forward.
As the population ages at an accelerating pace, the number of patients with chronic and severe diseases continues to rise. The direction our society must pursue for its healthcare system amid these changes is clear: a foundation where innovative technologies and medicines can be continuously developed to overcome disease, and an environment where such innovation is swiftly delivered to patients so they can receive the treatment they need in a timely manner. Building a structure that delivers innovation to patients at the right time is a core prerequisite for creating a healthy and sustainable healthcare system.
What, then, is needed to build such a healthcare environment? It is a partnership in which the government, the medical community, industry, and patients fulfill their respective roles based on trust and collaborate closely. Having long observed the intersection where industry and policy, the medical field and patients' voices converge, I can say with certainty that patient-centered healthcare cannot be achieved without such a cooperative structure. The indicators we face today clearly show that these are complex challenges that cannot be resolved through the efforts of any single actor alone.
Korea has undeniably risen to the ranks of advanced nations on the world stage, yet when it comes specifically to treatment access within the current healthcare system, the reality falls short of the country's elevated global standing. Over the past decade (2012–2021), it took an average of 46 months for new drugs to receive national health insurance reimbursement approval in Korea, far behind Japan (17 months) and Germany (11 months). The share of new drugs relative to total health insurance pharmaceutical expenditure averaged just 13.5% from 2017 to 2022, well below the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average of 33.9%. The threshold for the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), a key metric in the economic evaluation of new drugs, has also seen only limited increases over the past decade. As a result, calls from the medical community and patient advocacy groups to raise new drug access to the level of other advanced nations are growing louder.
Against this backdrop, the global pharmaceutical industry has continued to serve as a responsible partner. Over the past 25 years, KRPIA member companies — global research-driven pharmaceutical firms — have worked to introduce innovative medicines to Korea more rapidly, supplying approximately 83% of all new drugs in the country as of 2023. Over the past five years, they have expanded research and development (R&D) investment at an annual average rate of 14.8%. KRPIA has also published its Policy Proposal for the Improvement of National Public Health for two consecutive years, ensuring that patients and citizens benefit from advanced healthcare policies. Through policy discussions with the government, the medical community, and patients, it has presented practical solutions for delivering innovation to patients. In doing so, it has faithfully carried out its role as a policy partner.
Korea now stands at an important inflection point for taking its healthcare environment — one that connects innovation with patients — to the next level. The drug pricing reform plan approved by the Health Insurance Policy Deliberation Committee at the end of March reflects the government's strong commitment to more rational evaluation of the value of innovative new drugs, the creation of a sustainable industrial ecosystem, and the stabilization of the supply system for essential medicines.
