Unveiling pledges of 2021 presidential election candidates

Similar yet slightly differing solutions addressing drug shortages…fostering talent in the biopharma industry

Both parties have proposed similar pledges related to introducing non-face-to-face treatment policy·establishing a public electronic prescription system

Lee Jae-myung (Candidate No.1), the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Kim Moon-soo (Candidate No.2), the presidential candidate of the People Power Party

Ahead of South Korea's 21st presidential election, two candidates from main political parties have unveiled their key election pledges in the areas of public healthcare·biopharma·national healthcare insurance.

 

Lee Jae-myung (Candidate No.1), the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Kim Moon-soo (Candidate No.2), the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, have promise success of medical reform, focusing on strengthening regional and essential healthcare, amid ongoing dispute between medical community and the government.

 

They have also proposed pledges to resolve drug shortage issues.

 

However, their detailed pledges slightly differed.

 

They have proposed similar but slightly differing pledges in strengthening the areas of the biopharma industry and the national health insurance finances and coverage.

 

Given the nature of the healthcare and biopharma industries, it is difficult for dramatically different policy directions to emerge.

 

Furthermore, with the presidential impeachment leading to a rapid entry into an early presidential election, it is assessed that the two major parties had insufficient time to design pledges with significant distinctions.

 

The following is a closer look at the pledges of candidate Lee Jae-myung and candidate Kim Moon-soo, as of May 28, on the healthcare, pharmaceutical industry, and national health insurance Healthcare Reform, Drawing a Line from the Yoon Suk Yeol Administration Since declaring their presidential candidacies, both candidates have repeatedly expressed that they will not repeat the policy failures of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, which led to the collective resignations of medical residents and mass leaves of absence by medical students due to the forceful implementation of the 2,000-person increase in medical school admissions quota.

 

Accordingly, they proposed ways to prevent a repeat of medical-government conflicts.

 

These include candidate Lee Jae-myung's proposal for a new 'National-Centered Medical Reform Deliberation Committee' and candidate Kim Moon-soo's proposal for a new 'Presidential Committee for Future Healthcare with Medical Student Participation.' Effectively, the commonality between the two candidates is the establishment of a new public-private collaborative national body to develop a blueprint for healthcare reform, including the policy to increase medical school quota.

 

However, the difference lies in the Democratic Party's emphasis on 'people' and the People Power Party's detailed focus on 'medical students.' Depending on the presidential election results, the new body is expected to determine a detailed plan for healthcare reform in Korea.

 

Highlighting notable pledges, Candidate Lee proposed strengthening interprofessional cooperation among healthcare professionals and establishing a primary care system centered on regular clinics-pharmacies.

 

Candidate Kim, on the other hand, announced the enactment of laws to foster essential medical care and resolve regional healthcare disparities, along with a pilot project for primary care innovation.

 

Candidate Lee's pledge to strengthen interprofessional cooperation among healthcare professionals appears to indicate a commitment to legal and policy efforts to resolve disputes over licensing rights and conflicts in scopes of practice among various healthcare professions, such as doctors, traditional Korean medicine practitioners, pharmacists, and nurses.

 

The pledge to establish a local primary care system centered on regular clinics- pharmacies is likely to lead to the revitalization of the primary care ecosystem and local pharmacies, aiming to normalize the disrupted healthcare delivery system.

 

Candidate Kim chose to resolve disparities in essential and regional medical care through legislation.

 

The specific legislative framework has not been disclosed.

 

The 'Primary Care Innovation Pilot Project' is a policy that the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) has announced as part of its healthcare reform initiatives.

 

It reflects a commitment to fostering primary care that focuses on the prevention, management, and treatment of chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia.

 

Solving Drug Shortages, National Management from Raw Materials to Distribution Regarding solving the unstable supply of pharmaceuticals, both candidates' pledges generally aim to strengthen government intervention and support, from the manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to their distribution and management, which are the primary causes of drug shortages.

 

Similarities between the two candidates include support for production facilities and the expanded stockpiling of essential·discontinuation-prevention drugs, along with incentives for finished drugs using domestic raw materials (Candidate Lee) and support for the automation of essential drug production and manufacturing facilities, as well as the expansion of national stockpile drug items and quantities (Candidate Kim).

 

However, Candidate Lee made a somewhat unconventional pledge to selectively allow generic name prescribing limited to drugs experiencing recurring supply instability.

 

This is interpreted as a plan to create administrative and legal grounds for designating frequently short-supplied drugs and allowing generic name prescribing based on the experience of acetaminophen shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

However, since generic name prescribing is an issue of licensing conflict with doctors opposing and pharmacists supporting it if Candidate Lee is elected, seeking ways to minimize conflict will likely be necessary.

 

Candidate Kim's pledges did not include addressing drug shortages through the use of generic names.

 

Kim stated a policy to manage patient inconvenience with drug shortages by establishing a public electronic prescription system.

 

Biopharma Industry Pledges, Converging on Advanced Drug Pricing Systems Both Candidate Lee and Candidate Kim proposed various pledges to foster the biopharma industry, ultimately converging on establishing policies to improve the current drug pricing system or expanding drug price incentives to encourage new drug development.

 

Candidate Lee plans to enhance benefits by improving the innovative pharmaceutical company certification system and increasing opportunities for pharmaceutical companies to contribute to society.

 

Notably, Candidate Lee's pledge also includes the 'establishment of a new drug R&D investment-linked drug price compensation system,' which would provide drug price incentives proportional to a pharmaceutical company's investment in new drug research and development (R&D).

 

Candidate Kim also promised government support, including improving the R&D innovative new drug price compensation system, establishing a new drug development incentive system, setting up a drug pricing system that reflects the value of innovative new drugs, and strengthening incentives for essential pediatric and geriatric drugs.

 

A distinguishing point between Candidate Lee and Candidate Kim is Kim's proposals for promoting various drug reimbursement models, such as implementing a high-priced drug pre-listing·post-evaluation system, creating a separate fund for severe·rare disease drugs, and utilizing multi-year·multi-indication contracts and indication-specific drug pricing systems.

 

These pledges are evaluated as being able to significantly lower the barrier to national health insurance reimbursement for new drugs for rare and intractable diseases, which are expensive and have limited patient accessibility.

 

Non-face-to-face treatment, Differences in Perspectives on Healthcare and Industry Promotion Both Candidate Lee and Candidate Kim pledged to formalize the pilot project for non-face-to-face treatment.

 

Both candidates share a vision of establishing a non-face-to-face treatment model that combines safety and efficacy while also prohibiting dedicated medical institutions and implementing management·regulatory mechanisms for intermediary platforms.

 

However, a closer examination of the detailed content reveals some differences.

 

Candidate Lee placed more emphasis on institutionalizing non-face-to-face treatment as a means to supplement the healthcare system.

 

At the same time, Candidate Kim expressed an intention to leverage the institutionalization of non-face-to-face treatment also to benefit the promotion of the digital healthcare industry.

 

Specifically, Candidate Lee plans to legalize non-face-to-face treatment as a supplementary means to in-person consultations and halt indiscriminate non-face-to-face treatment pilot projects.

 

Candidate Lee stated that he would establish rational scopes and standards for non-face-to-face treatment and prevent prescription forgery, alteration, or misuse by introducing a public electronic prescription system.

 

Candidate Kim promised to enhance healthcare accessibility for patients residing in medically underserved areas like rural regions, elderly individuals with mobility issues, and chronic disease patients through non-face-to-face treatment while simultaneously targeting the cultivation of digital healthcare companies by easing R&D support and regulations.

 

Notably, he also announced plans to promote the delivery of prescription drugs via non-face-to-face treatment for patients residing in medically underserved areas.

 

Healthcare professionals and those in the biopharma industry state that it is challenging to predict future-specific policy models based solely on the pledges of the two-party candidates.

 

However, based on the reflection of their respective policy proposals, they express their intent to proceed with the concretization of detailed policies after the new president is elected.

 

A pharmaceutical industry official said, "The new drug R&D ratio-drug pricing linkage system requested by domestic pharmaceutical companies and the diversification of the rapid national health insurance reimbursement system for high-priced drugs, requested by multinational pharmaceutical companies, are proposed by both candidates' pledges." He added, "Healthcare and biopharma pledges inherently find it difficult to have entirely different directions depending on the political party.

 

Detailed policies will emerge during public-private consultations after the presidential election results are announced."