When a patient chooses one medication and switches to another, reimbursement does not cover the latter. Non-reimbursable drug switching has been a long-standing issue in South Korea.

At the end of last year, a long-standing issue in one field was resolved. The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) granted approval for drug switching for patients with rheumatoid arthritis who discontinued treatment because of a lack of response to either tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) inhibitors or JAK inhibitors.

It is a victory. Until now, the government has been stating that reimbursement would be challenging because of the lack of clinical evidence relating to JAK inhibitor drug switching. Howev