• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.5-30
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• 2005

Globalization has conflicting effects on pharmaceutical policies. A change into a 'populist competitive nation' due to globalization strengthens policies to reduce drug manufacturing costs while the WTO's TRIPS Agreement that is affected by multinational pharmaceutical companies increases drug manufacturing costs by bolstering the patent rights on new drugs. Currently, the independency of populist nations' policies to reduce drug manufacturing cost is being compromised because multinational organizations(such as the European Union) which represents the interests of the multinational pharmaceutical companies put restrictions on the pharmaceutical policies of populist nations for purposes of promoting the industrial goals of the multinational companies. Korea is no exception. Up until the late 1990s, the main feature of the pharmaceutical policies in Korea was keeping the drug price at the cost level based on a growth-driven ideology, and this was Korea's unique policy tools as a developing nation. However, the increase in the power of multinational pharmaceutical companies currently infringes on the independency of Korea's pharmaceutical policies. Expensive imported drugs were originally covered by the national health insurance plan, but starting from 1999 such drugs began to be covered by the plan. After separation of medical and pharmaceutical services, the use of expensive drugs was increased, and the Korean government planned to introduce the reference price policy in order to contain the cost of the national health insurance plan. However, due to pressures from the U.S. government as well as multinational pharmaceutical companies, implementation of the policy has been postponed. In addition, due to a pressure from the U.S. government, a working group was created which would affect the health care policy of the Korean government. Discussions so far on globalization was about whether the change into populist competitive nations due to globalization resulted in the reduction of welfare spending. However, this study shows not only the reduction of health care cost through policies to reduce drug manufacturing costs but increase in welfare spending by raising the strengths of multinational pharmaceutical companies that are for-profit providers of welfare service. While focusing on the contradictory effects of globalization on pharmaceutical policies of a nation, this study looked at how these conflicting effects end up promoting the interests of multinational pharmaceutical companies by examining the Korean case.

• The Korean Chronic Disease News
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• no.315
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• pp.1-18
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• 2007

대구광역시 서구 보건소 이재무 소장/포괄적 맞춤형 건강진단 실시/“공중보건의수급 대란 온다”/맞춤형 건강진단 어떤 내용 담고있나/“건강투자로 미래 성장 동력 확충”/한미 FTA,“ 보건의료계 영향 적다”/한미 FTA협상 주요 내용/교육.의료는 왜 협상서 빠졌나/성인 절반이 심뇌혈관질환 고위험군/암환자 암정보센터 HP로 오세요!/“꿈의 암치료 시대”열려/“구민이 함께 하는 건강한 사회.행복한 사회”/대구시 서구보건소 비만관리사업/‘제약산업 발전기금’조성 필요/“의약품위다국적 제약 참여할 수 없다”/공정거래자율준수프로그램(CP) 도입/중소제약 위한‘특별법’제정 요구/부실한 인적 자본, 미래 위한 건강투자 시급/

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.1-45
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• 2018

South Korea has recently emerged as one of the leading countries conducting clinical trials. Seoul, for instance, is now ranked at the top of the list among the cities in the world. This paper examines the rapid growth of research involving human subjects in Korea, not just from the economic perspective (e.g., the growth of global pharmaceutical markets and the subsequent increase in the demand for clinical trials), but from the policy perspective (e.g., the government?s drive to support and promote this field as a new industry). The industrialization of clinical trials in Korea has manifested itself in the rise of international Contract Research Organizations (CRO) doing their business in Korea. They are, figuratively speaking, invited to Korea by the government. This paper intends to uncover and discuss the bioethical issues concerning research on human subjects, the issues that tend to be set aside merely as procedural ones like ??workable documents??. To this end, it investigates the practice of clinical trials by collecting hitherto unherad voices from patient-volunteers, physician-researchers, CRO employees, and government officials. This paper also explores the themes of ??ethical variability?? and ??biocapital?? in order to compare and constrast the case in Korea with those in other countries.