BMI View: We expect the South Korean government to continue its pharmaceutical price reduction policy, as it has generated significant savings to public-sector budgets. Indeed, according to the South Korea National Health Insurance Review And Assessment Service, the public spending on prescription drugs in Q312 fell by 6.6% year-on-year (y-o-y), although it still accounted for over a quarter of the total national health insurance claim costs. As a result, we envisage policies encouraging the use of generic medicines, with such opportunities already being targeted by a number of foreign generic drug majors through partnerships with local companies. However, according to statistics from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), the boom time for generic drugs has ended, with industry experts suggesting that firms concentrate on competitive generic drugs that cannot be copied easily.

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