• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.45-61
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• 2007

Objectives: This study aims to identify the usage status of general drugs by some college students based on their own judgment and the relevant factors having impact on them. Methods: The questionnaire survey was conducted by visiting the students in 3 colleges in Daejeon and Chungcheongnam-Do. 792 students were finally selected as the subjects. The results were statistically analyzed using the SPSSWIN(ver 13.0) and $x^2-test$, ANOVA and multiple regression analysis were conducted. Results: The usage status of college students showed the significant difference by general features, knowledge and recognition attitude. The knowledge level of students on the general drugs was very low. They had excessive expectation on the general drugs in terms of the recognition attitude. The lowest factor was the distrust on the general drugs. 27.5% of subjects was satisfied with the effect after using 48.1%m when the drugs were frequently used. Those who experienced the side effects accounted for 9.6%. In accordance with the analysis on the factors related to the knowledge on, recognition attitude on and usage status of general drugs, the education had the highest influence on the abuse and misapplication of drugs. For the mistrust factor on the drugs and negligence factor on abnormal response, the gender was the most influencing. The knowledge level was the greatest impact on the excessive expectation factor on the drugs. The factor that the usage status was the most influential was the education on the abuse and misapplication of drugs. Conclusions: The systematic approach including establishment of health policies for the improvement of health and health education activity should be implemented on the basis of the thorough analysis on the knowledge level and recognition on drugs and the factors influencing on the usage of drugs.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.338-344
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• 2011

This study aimed to identify the changes in the list of drugs covered by national health insurance(NHI) after the introduction of positive list system (PLS) in Korea in December, 2006. Six-year (pre-policy:2004-2006, post-policy:2007-2009) lists of the NHI reimbursable drugs filed from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) were analyzed. The total number of listed drugs as well as drug ingredients, and the average number of listed drugs per manufacturer decreased annually after the introduction of PLS. More than 8,000 drugs were delisted in the year 2007 right after the policy change. Prescription-only drugs occupied more than 85% of NHI listed drugs. The percentage of oral type of listed drugs has been increased to more than 60% after the policy change. Korean pharmaceutical manufacturers occupied more than 90% of listed drugs than multinational firms. The gap between Korean and foreign manufacturer in terms of the average number of newly listed drugs per manufacturer in each year has decreased two years after the PLS (Korean 7.7 vs. foreign 6.3 in 2009) as the price negotiation power of foreign firms has increased. The total number of listed drugs is expected to decrease in the future as the Korean government makes an effort to delist the unnecessary drugs that do not show cost-effectiveness.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2013

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the patterns of Over-the-Counter (OTC) drugs and their interactions with prescription drugs in adults visiting a community pharmacy. Method: The subjects were 151 adults aged over 20 years visiting a community pharmacy in Asan-si from December 16th 2011 to February 1st 2012. We used a survey questionnaire. The survey inquired about the prevalence and the details of any OTC drug use and the characteristics of the study subjects. The drug interaction classification system from Lexicomp's Lexi-interact data fields was used to identify OTC drugs likely to have clinically significant interactions with prescription drugs. Results: The patterns of OTC drug use were related to thirties (from 30 to 40 years old), female gender, higher education, non-smoking, sometimes use of alcohol, and self-perceived normal health status. The most commonly used OTC drug category was antipyretic-analgesics (n=104, 53.3%), and the most commonly used ingredient was acetaminophen (n=67, 64.4%). The biggest motivation for taking OTC drugs was suggestion by pharmacists, reported by 55.6%. After reviewing each patient's prescription drugs and OTC drugs, 14 patients (36.8%) of 38 patients using prescription drugs were taking drug combinations with potential for clinically significant interactions. The concomitant use of OTC drugs with prescription drugs may lead to increased potentially harmful interactions. Conclusion: It is suggested that health-care professionals should be more aware of the potential and possible interactions and take into better account their patients' OTC drug use.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.230-237
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• 2018

Objective: To compare adverse event reporting patterns between ethical-the-counter and over-the-counter drugs from community pharmacies and outpatient settings. Methods: We conducted a descriptive study using the adverse event reporting database, wherein data were collected from the regional pharmacovigilance centers of the Korean Pharmaceutical Association between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016. The reported drugs were classified into either ethical-the-counter or over-the-counter drugs, and we compared the distribution of patient age and gender, frequent adverse events and medications, serious adverse events, and causality assessment results, where causality assessments were performed according to the World Health Organization-The Uppsala Monitoring Centre's system. Results: We included 17,570 reports (75,451 drug-adverse event pairs). Ethical-the-counter and over-the-counter drugs accounted for 81.4% and 18.6% of the total adverse event reports, respectively. The use of over-the-counter drugs was higher in females and patients aged <18 years, whereas the use of ethical-the-counter drugs was higher in those aged >65 years. Alimentary tract and metabolism drugs, and respiratory system drugs were the most frequent ethical-the-counter and over-the-counter drugs, respectively. From causality assessment results, "possible" (75.4%) was the most commonly assigned category for ethical-the-counter drugs, while "possible" (44.0%) and "unlikely" (47.7%) were the most common categories for over-the-counter drugs. The distribution of serious adverse events were similar for both ethical-the-counter and over-the-counter drugs. Conclusion: Differences were observed in age, gender, reported medications, and symptoms for both ethical-the-counter and over-the-counter drugs. Further pharmacovigilance activities considering the adverse event characteristics of over-the-counter drugs, which are comparable to ethical-the-counter drugs, should be performed.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.55-65
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• 1983

This survey was carried out to investigate the pattern of taking psychotropic drugs for 618 cases who visited 48 drugstores located as such four types of areas as business sections, gay quarters, residential sections and quasi-industrial areas from May, 1982 to March, 1983. The results are summarized as follows: I. The age distribution: The age group of 20-29 showed the highest distribution covering 35.6% as 220 out of 618 cases. The age groups of thirties and forties covered 23.0% and 19.0% respectively. The sex ratio was estimated as 1:1.86. 2. The occupational distribution: The unemployees composed the largest portion covering 53.7% as 332 out of 618. Above all the class of the housewives was 32.7%. 3. The marital status: The degree of distribution was higher on the sides of the group of married people than that of single and its percentage was 30.1. 4. The educational level: Most of the people who purchased the drugs had no knowledge of the effect of the drugs, and they covered 80.9%. 5. As for the motives, the twenties took psychotropic drugs in order to relief insomnia and that was the biggest major motive at the portion of 59.1%, 130 out of 618. 6. The age group of twenties who took the drugs for about 6 months showed the highest percentage of 52.7%. 7. The highest distribution appeared in the case that takes one or two tablets a day for less than 6 months. 8. The dosage distribution by the number of times taking the drugs The group of people that took the drugs more than 3 to 4 tablets a day as the number of 1 to 3 times covered 41.7\ulcorner0 of 187. 9. The most favorite psychotropic drugs: Lorazepam was showed to be the most favorite drugs by either male or female covered 50.9o70, 54.2\ulcornero respectively. 10. The motives of selecting drugs: The optional motives of selecting psychotropic drugs were showed 269 (43.5%) out of 618 cases that chose the drugs for themselves.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Fundamentals of Nursing
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.195-205
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• 2008

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify drug use by elders. Method: There were 304 participants age 65 or older included in this study. Data were collected using a questionnaire about drug use in the past 4 weeks. The questionnaire, a modification of Uhm's (2005), Lee's (2001), and Ellor and Kurz's (1982) tools, consisted of 17 questions on general and health characteristics, 17 on drug usage and 9 on behaviors related to drug misuse. Results: 85.5% of participants reported laking at least one type of prescription or non-prescription drug. 26.0% of participants reported taking only prescription drugs, 3.9% reported taking only non-prescription drugs, and 55.6% reported taking both prescription and non-prescription drugs. 17.1% of participants reported side effects from the drugs. The mean score for behaviors related to drug misuse was 7.53. Elders taking only non-prescription drugs showed more drug misuse than elders taking only prescription drugs or both. Women used more prescription, non-prescription drugs or both than man. Elders in rural areas used more non-prescription drugs than those in urban areas. Conclusion: Even though pharmacies were separated from medical practices in 2000, most older adults continue to use and misuse prescription and non-prescription drugs.

• BMB Reports
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.111-116
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• 2017

Natural product drugs, or botanical drugs, are drugs composed of natural substances which have constituents with healthenhancing or medicinal activities. In Korea, government-led projects brought attention to botanical drugs invigorating domestic botanical drug industry. Foreign markets, as well, are growing bigger as the significance of botanical drugs stood out. To follow along with the tendency, Korea puts a lot of effort on developing botanical drugs suitable for global market. However, standards for approving drug sales vary by countries. And also, thorough standardization, certification, clinical studies and data of these will be required as well as data confirming safety and effectiveness. Meanwhile, as an international exchange in botanical drug market continues, the importance of plant resources was emphasized. Thus countries' ownership of domestic natural resources became vital. Not only establishing a systematic method to secure domestic plant resources, but also cooperation with other countries on sharing natural resources is essential to procure natural resources effectively. Korea started to show visible results with botanical drugs, and asthma/COPD treatment made out of speedwell is one example. Sufficient investment and government's active support for basic infrastructure for global botanical drugs will bring Korea to much higher level of botanical drug development.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.35-37
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• 2003

Efficacy and safety of drugs are evaluated in the process of drug registration along with the basis of setting test method and acceptance criteria for assuring quality of the drugs. Quality of drugs plays a key role to guarantee the efficacy and safety of drugs approved in the evaluation process at the marketing stage after approval. Most important role of pharmacopoeia is to give the basis of assuring the quality of drugs. (omitted)

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.1042-1046
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• 2005

Two known modified dipeptides, trichodermamide A (1) and aspergillazine A (2), were isolated from an ethyl acetate extract of the metabolite of a marine-derived fungus Spicaria elegans, and were found to have a weak cytotoxic effect on three cancer cell lines P388, A-549, and HL-60 agreed. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the isolation of compounds 1 and 2 from the fungus Spicaria elegans and their cytotoxic effect.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.1341-1344
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• 2005

Bioassay-guided fractionation of $CHCl_{3}$ extract from the fermentation broth of a sponge Mycale plumose-derived actinomycete Saccharopolyspora sp. nov., led to the isolation of two known prodigiosin analogs - metacycloprodigiosin (1) and undecylprodigiosin (2). These compounds exhibited significant cytotoxic activities against five cancer cell lines: P388, HL60, A-549, BEL­7402, and SPCA4. This is the first report on the significant cytotoxicity of metacycloprodigiosin (1) against human cancer cell lines.