• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.127-138
• /
• 2005

This is to examine the OTC regulatory system of Korea in comparison with those of Japan, UK and US, and suggest the possible regulatory actions to harmonize it to international standards. Individual countries have their own regulatory requirements and processes far OTC application based on established drug monographs and safety profiles from clinical experiences. Categories of OTC drug monographs are being expanded with transparent establishment procedure according to detailed guidelines, and public opinions as well as professional experts for assessing appropriateness of wide usage without physician's prescription. In line with trend of self-medication worldwide, the number of OTC drugs is increasing and more efficient and professional drug review is underway in the separate OTC division in regulatory agency. For improving OTC regulatory system in Korea, settlement of optimal drug classification policy and management for encouraging OTC drug use, development of more detailed and specific guidelines for OTC drug application, expansion of OTC drug monographs, transparent process for OTC monographs establishment, and establishment of OTC division in health authority, are suggested.

• Archives of design research
• /
• v.9
• /
• pp.701-712
• /
• 1994

We are in the process of the deepening of the informationalized society. Such a phenomenon(of deepening of the informationalized society) means that human being is surrounded by a linguistic or semiological environment instead of realistic experience. And it is concerned with the visual design composed by the visual languages and semiotics of Arts. Because the visual design is a kind of the linguisticsmion using the visual formation. This penomena necessarily brings the expansion of the quatity of information and accompanies the simplification of messages. Therefore when we apply the simplicity resulting from the ideality of KYEORE painting(the folk Art of Korea), it can be cotribute to those who should be in the center of semiological environment more deeply as a source to maximize the effect of communication, which is the conclusion of this study. In sort, the characteristics of our KYEORE painting is the ideal expression. There are found not a few problems such as the depiction of forms, the perspective representation, the chiaroscuro, the expression of material if we evaluate them from the western formative viewpoint. But the depiction of the fact is less direct than the ideal expression itself, is likely to be much complicated, and can be far away from the world of reality. Because it is just the first step for satisfying the ideal images in man. In the composition of KYEORE painting is dominated by the rules nonprescription of time amd place, colloquialism of the meaning, distinction maximization. They are all the compositive characteristics resulting from the ideality. If these characteristics are modulated intelligently to the current thoughts, they will help to build the new visual communication system of Korea which has more direct and fast absorption force.

• Journal of Distribution Science
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2023

Purpose: The primary purpose of this research is to understand the potential influence of various factors, namely, pharmacies' recommendations, families' and friend recommendations, price, country of origin, and past experience, on the purchasing decision of nonprescription medicines in the Jordanian context. Research design, data, and methodology: A survey was conducted among 220 Jordanian consumers through a self-administered questionnaire. Further, the authors utilized the mall intercept method as a convenience sampling technique to recruit the respondents who shop at different pharmacies. The data were analyzed using various statistical techniques, such as frequency and percentage for describing the demographics of the sample, Cronbach's alpha for testing the reliability of the data, skewness and kurtosis to check the normality of data, and further, multiple regression using SPSS version 25 was performed for examining the hypotheses. Results: The findings revealed that pharmacists' recommendation, recommendations from friends and family, and price positively influenced consumers' purchase decisions of OTC medicines in Jordan, whereas consumers' past experience and country of origin had no influence on consumers' purchasing decisions of OTC medicines. Conclusions: The paper examines the influence of various factors on customers' purchase decisions of OTC medicines, draws conclusions, and makes recommendations. Also, research limitations are mentioned.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.60 no.3
• /
• pp.146-153
• /
• 2016

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs refer to medicines that are generally safe when used according to the product label. We aimed to assess and reflect upon changes in perception of health and health-related demands by decades in Korea according to the consumption and sales trends of OTC drugs. This study was conducted by literature search on the production and sale rankings of OTC drug market in Korea. Changes in the OTC drug market were analyzed and organized by decades to evaluate changes in drug demands and the influence of national and societal factors. There was a specific trend in the most popular drugs by decades. In the 1950s, drugs of top necessity were antibiotics and helminthics. In the 1960s, the pharmaceutical industry quickly grew and invigorators, such as Bacchus$^{(R)}$, Alps$^{(R)}$, Aronamin$^{(R)}$, were top manufactured drugs. Popularity of these invigorating drinks and vitamin products continued until the 1990s. In 1990s, sales of topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (Ketotop Plaster$^{(R)}$, Trast Patch$^{(R)}$), and in 2000s, gum disease medicine (Insadol$^{(R)}$) and liver and intestine supplement (Ursa$^{(R)}$) were prominent. However, after the separation of prescribing and dispensing in 2000, the sales of OTC drugs decreased dramatically from 58.7% of the total market share in 1990s to 39.6% in 2000 and this trend has continued. In 2012, thirteen OTC drugs were allowed to be sold in convenience stores, and as the sales of health functional foods have been expanding beyond pharmacies, sales of invigorators and nutritional supplements in pharmacies have continued to decrease. As government's drug expenditure will continue to grow, reclassification of OTC drugs based on established safety information and deliberate team efforts on continued development of OTC drugs to meet the health demands of Koreans are required by the healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical industries, and the government.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.230-237
• /
• 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 Distribution Research
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.237-255
• /
• 2010

The Korean Pharmacist Law has limited the sales of medicine to pharmacies. This has caused difficulty in purchasing medicine late at night or on holidays, which has limited the range of customers' selections and accelerated customers' discomfort, accordingly. Also, the rapid progress of aging has quickly boosted medical expenses for seniors, and has served as a factor that aggravates the budget of national medical insurance. Meanwhile, advanced countries, including the USA and Japan, have allowed the sales of general medicine, of which the safety and efficacy have been tested, in general retail stores such as convenience stores or super markets from the perspective of supporting self-medication. In particular, Japan, which has a strong tendency of pursuing safety in the world, diversified sales channels for general medicine in order to control quickly rising medical expenses. As a result, Japan has achieved the effect of easing various regulations as follows in the economic and social fields. First, the increasing distribution channels of general medicine from pharmacies to general retail stores provoked a potential demand, which also expanded related markets. Second, the competition between sales channels resulted in the reduction of the price of medicine. Third, the growing sales channels of medicine have extended the options of consumers and, subsequently, the convenience in the use of consumers has increased. Fourth, the creation of a competitive environment owing to the diversification of sales channels has accelerated an effort to enhance corporate competitiveness. Fifth, the foundation of enhancing the financial soundness of medical expenses has been prepared through the formation of a self-medication environment. In 2000, the Korean population aged 65 or over exceeded 7%, and it is anticipated to be over 14% by 2018; thus, the increase of national medical expenses will be sped up. As a way of being prepared for the era of aging, we, just as other advanced countries, need to create a self-treatment environment by diversifying the sellers of general medicine, and, thus, reduce spending on personal medical expenses, enhance the financial soundness of national medical insurance, and, further, promote the welfare of consumers.