Even after a drug is approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and listed for reimbursement, the drug cannot be prescribed immediately by medical staff at general hospitals.

A drug can only be prescribed at each hospital after a prescription code is generated upon review by their respective drug committees (DCs).

The process, in itself, is quite systematic. Rather than allowing prescriptions of all drugs that are commercialized, an expert meeting is held internally to discuss the need to introduce the drug to each medical institution.

DCs have long been regarded as powerful sales targets within the pharmaceutical industry. When it's time for each hospital's DC, a wa