The pharmaceutical industry is sullen despite the government's announcement of a measure to expand drug coverage, as the so-called measures for expanded coverage are closer to reductions from the industry’s point of view.

The main issue lies in the improvement of the pharmacoeconomic evaluation (PE) exemption system that was included in the “Measure to improve patient access and reinforce reimbursement management for high-priced severe disease treatments” that was recently presented by the government.

The goal of the improvement is to expand coverage for the pediatric patients. The government added a clause allowing PE exemption for "drugs used to treat pediatric patients that are th