Abstract
This study examines factors associated with drug approvals and patent issues of the Korean pharmaceutical firms. The 22 firms were selected based on 2006 year's publicly noticed sales amount. Number of approved drugs was identified through Korea Food and Drug Administration and the information regarding the patents that each firm has issued during the year 2000~2006 was collected from the Korea Patent Office. The number of approved drugs has increased annually, especially after the introduction of substance patent system in 1987 and in 2000 again with the policy change into the separation of drug prescribing and dispensing practice. The number of initial approval of NCEs as well as the number of patents per firm decreased during the year 2000~2006. The 12 firms with larger revenue occupied more than 80% of the patents being issued. There was a positive relationship between share of prescription drugs out of approved drugs and the average number of patents issued. However, number of approved drugs did not show positive association with the number of patents issued per firm. Therefore, the study results imply that firms need to invest more in increasing number of approvals for their specific prescription drugs in order to achieve a good performance in the future.