Wegovy and Mounjaro prices in South Korea are higher than in China and Japan. South Korea added both drugs to a non-insurance reporting system, but immediate price cuts are unlikely.
South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety won passage of five legal amendments, including a ban on AI-generated fake-expert ads for health products. The changes also expand state powers over essential drug supply and speed narcotics controls.
Bayer’s sevabertinib has obtained domestic approval as an imported rare drug for HER2-mutant non-small cell lung cancer. The oral reversible HER2-targeted TKI was previously approved by the FDA for previously treated patients.
South Korea has approved fast-track drug listing for rare disease treatments, reducing the insurance coverage process from 240 days to 100 days. The reform includes post-listing effectiveness evaluations and flexible pricing agreements, aiming to improve patient access to innovative treatments amid ongoing budget concerns.
Hanmi Pharmaceutical has initiated phase 2 patient dosing of belvarafenib for NRAS-mutated melanoma in Korea, enrolling the first patient at a university hospital. The multicenter trial will evaluate combination therapy in 45 patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease.
ACT Capital Management invested $7.25 million in Viking Therapeutics as the company advances its obesity drug candidate VK2735 into Phase 3 trials. India's drug regulator warned pharmaceutical companies against direct or surrogate advertising of weight-loss medicines, while South Korean drugmakers target year-end commercialization of domestically developed obesity treatments.
Pharmaceutical companies are developing innovative hair loss treatments that directly activate hair growth pathways rather than suppressing male hormones, with several candidates entering clinical trials and promising enhanced safety profiles.
Roche signed an agreement to invest $478 million in Korea clinical trials over five years, marking the largest foreign pharmaceutical investment. Korean companies are also securing pre-approval licensing deals globally, demonstrating growing competitiveness.
Artificial intelligence is increasingly used to analyze Alzheimer's datasets and inform drug discovery, while researchers identify promising new drug targets including the IDOL enzyme and somatostatin receptors that could lead to more affordable treatments.
