U.S. 'pressured' drug pricing

Kim Hong-shin, an opposition Grand National Party representative, said Wednesday that the United States pressured the Seoul government to nullify a proposed drug pricing policy on 26 occasions between May last year and February 2002.

Mr. Kim argued at the National Assembly that the United States has used every possible means to get the pricing policy change dropped. Big drugmakers, many of them U.S.-based firms, have criticized the policy, which was intended to stem the losses of the national health insurance system and encourage use of generic drugs produced by domestic pharmaceutical companies.

He said a number of U.S. organizations worked to pressure Seoul on the drug policy, including the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul and the U.S. Trade Representative. Mr. Kim added that the U.S. assistant secretary of commerce, William Lash, even threatened the Korean vice minister of health and welfare over the policy during his visit to Seoul in April.

Saying the government caving in to the U.S. pressure has led to mounting losses at the National Health Insurance Corp., Mr. Kim demanded a public hearing and a parliamentary inquiry into the matter. He said the Blue House was heavily lobbied by Washington and that Lee Tae-bok, a former health and welfare minister, was replaced for resisting the pressure.

The Korean Research-Based Pharmaceutical Industry Association, which represents several multinational pharmaceutical firms, and whose chairman is Mark Johnson, an American, said Wednesday it had no part in the dismissal of Mr. Lee. The association added that exchanging views on government proposals is a normal procedure and not considered illegal lobbying.

Lowering drug prices in the short term, the association argued, will only limit the drug companies' ability to provide better, safer new drugs to consumers.

by Ha Hyun-ock