Abstract
Introduction: A new pricing policy was introduced in Korea in April 2012 with the aim of strengthening competition among off-patent drugs by eliminating price gaps between originators and generics. Objective: Examine the effect of newly implemented pricing policy. Methods: Retrospectively examining the effects through extracting from the National Health Insurance claims data a 30-month panel dataset (January 2011-June 2013) containing consumption data in four major therapeutic classes (antihypertensives, lipid-lowering drugs, antiulcerants and antidepressants). Proxies for market competition were examined before and after the policy. Results: The new pricing policy did not enhance competition among off-patent drugs. In fact, price dispersion significantly decreased as opposed to the expected change. Originator-to-generic utilization increased 6.12 times (p = 0.000) after the new policy. Conclusions: The new pricing policy made no impact on competition among off-patent drugs. Competition in the off-patent market cannot be enhanced unless both supply and demand side measures are coordinated.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1007-1014 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Korea
- competition
- drug pricing
- generic medicines
- off-patent drugs
