[Ip-health] Court throws out drug company pricing complaint

[heeseob nam]

This is the first case to cut down the A-7 average price of innovative
drug through the petition of civil society groups.

The definition of "innovative drug" in the court decision is
especially important, as the US FTA negotiators demand Korean
government that all of the patented drugs should be innovative drugs.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_business/170653.html

Court throws out drug company pricing complaint
Drug ruled not innovative, undeserving of high price

A South Korean court ruled in favor of a civic group in its legal
fight for price cuts of a cancer-treating drug manufactured by
multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

The Seoul Administration Court said in its ruling that the
London-based drug firm failed to prove the value of Iressa as an
innovative drug in treating lung cancer, thus turning down the
pharmaceutical firm's suit seeking to nullify a price cut enforced by
the Ministry of Health and Welfare in August.

In June, the government's Drug Evaluation Committee reduced the price
of Iressa from 62,010 won (US$64) to 55,003 won per tablet at the
request of a civic group, the Health Right Network. AstraZeneca filed
a lawsuit against the committee's price cut.

"If Iressa is regarded as an innovative new drug, it should show a
marked improvement from existing medications. But that effect was not
proven in clinical tests," the court said in its ruling.

The court ruling was welcomed by the civic group, which issued a
statement that said, "This marks the first case in which [the people]
have won the right to lower drug prices, covered by health insurance."

--
HeeSeob Nam
IPLeft (www.ipleft.or.kr)
Tel.: +82 2 6050 1621
Mobile: +82 11 470 1180
Fax: +82 2 6050 1700
hurips@gmail.com