[Reporter's View] Generic substitution is necessary

The activation of generic substitution was a daily issue at the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee's national audit held on the 7th to 8th and 13th.

 

It has been a long time since 2015 that the National Assembly has been interested in revitalizing alternative preparations as much as this year.

 

This is also the reason why Young-Seok Seo, a member of Democratic Party of Korea initiated the 'Pharmaceutical Affairs Law Amendment Bill', which allows post-notification to the prescriber or the HIRA after generic substitution.

 

According to the announcement of The MFDS, Pharmacists can make a generic substitution with an item recognized as bioequivalence by the MFDS or a bioequivalence reference drug which is cheaper than the drug prescribed by a doctor.

 

At this time, a 'generic substitution incentive for low-priced drugs' system is also being implemented for pharmacists to receive 30% of the difference in drug price as usage incentives.

 

However, the average of the generic substitution ratio for the five years from 2016 to August 2020 was 0.26%, of which more than 2.3 billion claims were made, in 603 million cases.

 

This means that although the government has implemented an incentive system for the activation of generic substitution, the policy was not effective in the field.

 

Over the past five years, it has saved ₩6,645 million by generic substitution.

 

Excluding the incentives paid to pharmacists, it saved more than ₩4.6 billion in health insurance finances.

 

As the drug cost increased every year, last year, ₩19,321.1 billion was spent as drug cost.

 

The activation of generic substitution can capture some of the drug costs in health insurance medical bills.

 

However, while pointing out the efficacy and side effects of the generic and original bioequivalence tests, doctors are opposed to the generic substitution.

 

It's an old argument.

 

The MFDS is promoting that generics can be taken with confidence because they are the same active ingredients as the original, Minister of Welfare Park Neung-hoo said, "There is no problem with the use of drugs from the patient's point of view as generic substitution is the preparation of drugs that have proven bioequivalence.

 

Efforts are needed so that the people can trust in alternative drugs." The National Assembly proposed an amendment to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, and the Review Board said that the DUR system could be used to simplify the generic substitution process.

 

The MOHW also expressed a willingness to improve the replacement dispensing post notification system.

 

The government should create a forum for consultation with medical and pharmacists, and to build public trust in order to trust and take generics.