During the past three months, the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare has announced partnerships with other countries to help foster medical tourism among wealthy citizens from major emerging markets, including Russia and the UAE. At the same time that this effort is undertaken by the Korean government, multinational pharmaceutical companies are deliberating whether they wish to even launch their innovative medicines into Korea as a result of pricing and access pressures. Due to these conflicting trends, the Global Market Access practice at ISA has published a thought piece on the impact of Korea’s pricing and access policies on innovation and its medical tourism opportunity.

The publication, led by Cyrus Chowdhury, Vice President of the Global Market Access (GMA) practice at Insight Strategy Advisors, explores details of the pricing and access challenges in Korea, characterises its medical tourism opportunity, and identifies a new approach to pricing negotiation in Korea.

“Since 2006, Korea has become an increasingly challenging market for multinational pharmaceutical companies to maintain a global price band that remains in line with similarly maturing and matured markets. The recent push by the Korean government to broaden channels for wealthy citizens in Russia and the UAE to receive next generation therapeutics in Korea is in direct conflict with the environment being created for the manufacturers of these therapeutics,” explains Mr. Chowdhury. “Today, the innovative pharmaceutical industry has a new negotiating tool for securing access at a commercially viable price. As a result, multinational pharmaceutical companies must fully assess their approach to access and negotiation with a view to this powerful, emerging patient segment in Korea.”

“In the meantime, multinational health insurers from other developed markets are designing healthcare financing ‘passports’ to ease healthcare provision across borders, particularly within the emerging markets. Pharmaceutical companies must now evaluate the opportunity for alliance with these insurers, as well as how much they are willing to pay for these partnerships given the unique and financially endowed patient population they cover.”

The thought piece may be downloaded through the Insight Strategy Advisors website, or by following THIS LINK. During the next few months, Mr. Chowdhury will be sharing further implications of these ongoing developments during speaking engagements around the world, including ISPOR International, ISPOR Europe, ISPOR Latin America, and the US-China Pharma Conference.

Interested parties can learn more about this issue by contacting Mr. Chowdhury directly at cyrus.chowdhury@insightstrat.com

ISA advises on global engagements with an experienced multinational team of consultants headquartered in New York City, with strong presence around the world. Other practice areas include Commercialisation Strategy, Oncology & Specialty Therapeutics, and US Managed Markets.

The Global Market Access practice at Insight Strategy Advisors provides pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies advisory services for maximising market access throughout the global marketplace. Engagements include, but are not limited to, pricing and market access assessments, portfolio optimisation strategies, partnership due diligence, political influence mapping, and NGO facilitation.