Hundreds of Trillions of Won Flow Into Anti-Cancer Market... "Access to Innovative New Drugs is Crucial" [Biz Insight]

[Anchor]

Global efforts continue to overcome cancer, known as one of the most terrifying diseases plaguing humanity. We sat down with the executive vice president of AstraZeneca's Oncology Business Unit, who has long dedicated himself to developing novel cancer treatments, to discuss the current state of the industry and its challenges.

Reporter Han Jiyeon has more.

[Reporter]

We sat down with a key leader driving one side of the anti-cancer drug market, which attracts hundreds of trillions of won.

[David Fredrickson / Executive Vice President, AstraZeneca's Oncology Business Unit: AstraZeneca is one of the leading and largest global pharmaceutical companies in the world. The reason I am in Seoul right now is because the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) is taking place.]

Q. Why does it take time for patients to take medications after a new drug is approved?

The biggest reasons are economic evaluations regarding the clinical value of the drug, cost-effectiveness, drug price negotiations, and discussions on health insurance coverage. Such discussions and evaluation processes take longer in Korea compared to other countries.

I think this process can be sufficiently improved and shortened. I believe this can deliver new drugs to South Korean patients much faster.

We are passionate about contributing to the advancement of science and innovation in cancer treatment, providing patients with the opportunity to live longer despite having cancer, and finding new ways to achieve a cure whenever possible.

Q. Why is accessibility to innovative new drugs a national-level homework task?

The first reason accessibility to innovative new drugs is important is that, as we learned through the pandemic, a healthy society is precisely the most economically prosperous society.

Access to pharmaceuticals also serves as a benchmark for pharmaceutical companies like AstraZeneca to decide where to invest in research and innovation.

Today, we are increasingly securing technologies that can diagnose cancer earlier and technologies that detect and block it early on.

If cancer can be detected early and treated with an innovative new drug, patients get a chance to be cured, or at least gain the opportunity for long-term, sustained treatment responses.

I think this can definitely contribute to building a healthy society.

Q. What is needed for South Korea to achieve both drug accessibility and innovation?

Currently, South Korea invests only about 0.09% of its GDP in innovative new drugs.

Therefore, the state must first increase the amount of investment allocated to innovative new drugs out of the income and GDP generated by the country.

Next, I think we need to modernize the cost-effectiveness evaluation criteria currently in use.

Most of the systems currently used to determine the value of pharmaceuticals were created decades ago.

As science has advanced, these systems now need to be modernized.

If these two factors—modernizing the reimbursement mechanism and injecting more financial resources into innovative new drugs—come together while maintaining South Korea's outstanding scientific capabilities, I believe an opportunity will open up for South Korea to become a true leader in the life sciences sector.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.