A series of cases where preferential pricing has been applied to biobetter drugs are being introduced to Korea. In 2016, the government announced a plan to provide preferential pricing for biosimilars and biobetters, which are improved versions of already approved biopharmaceuticals, that have contributed to the improvement of Korea’s healthcare.

Considering how biobetters are more difficult to develop compared to incrementally modified drugs (chemical drugs), the government decided to set the overall price of biobetters at the 100-120% range of the original drug. However, no drug had reaped the benefit until recently.


And then in September, Sanofi-Aventis Korea’s Nexviazyme (a