Although yet to be finalized, the PE exemption criteria will not be amended' in the direction desired by pharmaceutical companies.

In particular, companies are likely to have little room in utilizing the special exemption of the pharmacoeconomic evaluation system due to the restrictions set, such as treatments that are used by ‘few’ patients and those with ‘pediatric’ indications.

The period for industry opinion collection still remains, with the deadline being the 30th. But as the government is determined to implement the amendments to the system, to what extent the opinions will be reflected remains to be seen.

Chang-Hyun Oh, Director of Pharmaceutical Benefits at