• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.150-159
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• 2013

A study was performed to identify current drug shortages, assess impact of drug shortages on public hospitals and patients, and investigate needs of pharmacists for a drug shortage list. An e-mail survey was sent to the pharmacists of 13 national public hospitals. Total 61.5% of public hospitals has 10 or fewer drugs a year in short supply. Shortages involved mood drugs, anti-tumor drugs, analgesics, antibiotics and etc. in 2012. Among them 75.0% was prescription drugs and the other 25.0% was non-prescription drugs. 79.2% was domestic products and 20.8% was imported drugs. Only 12.5% was injections. Less than 3 pharmacists usually spent within 3 hours managing one drug shortage. Since a single item for a certain medicine may raise risk of drug shortages, it's needed to consider developing manuals, laying up medicine stocks and holding plural medicines for drug shortages in public hospitals. Main information resources of drug shortages are wholesalers or manufacturers. But the information appeared to be not only inadequate but also too late for appropriate activities. A survey of pharmacists revealed that overall 84.6% of respondents were in need of the drug shortage list. They expected it to be conducted to take proper measures for the drug shortage and to improve patient healthcare outcome and convenience. This study will contribute to improving public health by promoting stable supply of drugs and repairing the information delivery system.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.160-164
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• 2008

This study investigated the current status and drug expenditure of the drug shortage prevention program in Korea. National health insurance claims data from 2001 to 2005 were analyzed for the drugs with inadequate supply, which were designated as shortage prevention drugs (SPDs). Drug use of SPDs have increased every year, but the average increase rate of drug expenditure for SPDs, 13.5% was lower than that for all the reimbursed drugs, 18.6%. Drugs with price increase based on production cost were more actively used than drugs with prescription incentives for doctors.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.106-119
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• 2024

Drug shortage is a persistent phenomenon that poses a public health risk worldwide and occurs due to a range of causes. The purpose of this study is to review key policies to prepare for and respond to drug shortages in selected countries, such as the United States, Canada, and some European countries in order to draw implications. This study reviewed the reports and articles derived from search engines and Google Scholar by using keywords such as drug shortage and stock-out. Over the last decade or so, the United States have strengthened requirements on advance notification for disruption and interruption of drug manufacturing, established the Inter-agency Drug Shortages Task Force to promote the communication and coordination of responses, and expedited drug regulatory processes. Similarly, Canada established the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee on drug shortages by involving representatives from central and local governments and private sectors. Canada also adopted a tiered approach to the communication of drug shortages based on the assessment of the severity of the shortage problem and released a detailed information guide on communication. In 2019, the joint task force between the European Medicines Agency and the Heads of Medicines Agencies issued guidelines on drug shortage communication in the European Economic Area. The countries reviewed in this paper focus on communication across different stakeholders for the monitoring of and timely response to drug shortages. The efforts to protect public health from the negative impact of the drug shortage crisis would require multi-sectorial and multi-governmental coordination and development of guidelines.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.100.1-100.1
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• 2003

Tissue engineering has arisen to address the extreme shortage of tissues and organs for transplantation and repair. One of the most successful techniques has been the seeding and culturing cells on three-dimensional biodegradable scaffolds in vitro followed by implantaion in vivo. We used PLA and PLGA as biodegradable polymers and rabbit chondrocytes were isolated and applied to PLA and PLGA to make artificial cartilage. To evaluate the biocompatibility and biological safety of polymers, in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo animal tests were investigated. (omitted)

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.321-332
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• 2010

Growing interest in the nasal route as a drug delivery system calls for a reliable in vitro model which is crucial for efficiently evaluating drug transport through the nasal cells. Various in vitro cell culture systems has thus been developed to displace the ex vivo excised nasal tissue and in vivo animal models. Due to species difference, results from animal studies are not sufficient for estimating the drug absorption kinetics in humans. However, the difficulty in obtaining reliable human tissue source limits the use of primary culture of human nasal epithelial cells. This shortage of human nasal tissue has therefore prompted studies on the "passage" culture of nasal epithelial cells. A serially passaged primary human nasal epithelial cell monolayer system developed by the air-liquid interface (ALI) culture is known to promote the differentiation of cilia and mucin gene and maintain high TEER values. Recent studies on the in vitro nasal cell culture systems for drug transport studies are reviewed in this article.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.36 no.4 s.143
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• pp.278-281
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• 2005

'Hwan So Dan(還少丹)' is Chinese patent medicine which has been used for shortage of vitality and asthenia in Korea. It consists of 14 kinds of powdered crude drugs. In powdered crude drugs, it is hard to identify each component by chemical analysis or morphological examination. However, the method of identification of powdered crude drugs has not been clearly established. For the identification of individual crude drugs in such powdery mixtures, microscopic method may advantageously be used as it requires only a small amount specimens. In this study, it is demonstrated that the microscopic method is very effective for the identification of 14 crude drug ingredients in Hwan So Dan.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.331-343
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• 2011

A survey of consumer awareness and attitudes was conducted about genetically modified (GM) foods and the labeling regulations. The questionnaires were distributed to 4,620 consumers who lived in a variety of areas in Korea, and 4,076 people responded. The consumers were asked about knowledge, labeling information, and the source of obtaining information about GM foods. More than 11.5% of the consumers had never heard about GM foods and 86.9% of consumers had less than a normal level of knowledge about GM foods. No statistically significant relationship was found between genders, but the teachers group had moderate knowledge (p<0.001). In total, 28.4% of consumers did not know the GMO labeling regulations. They answered that the reason to buy GM food was do not know>nothing wrong>create benefit>think as safe>inexpensive. The answers to the question of what was the first benefit were: solve food shortage>functional and nutritious food>cultivate in bad condition>nothing>various cultivars. They answered that the worst factor was the next generation effect>environmental disruption. Regarding the development of GM food in Korea, males answered do not know>stronglyrecommend>defer>strongly suppress. Female answered: don't know>defer>strongly recommend>strongly suppress. More than half of the respondents did not have much information about GM foods; 88.3% of respondents answered they did not have educational experience about GM food.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.64-86
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• 2010

Korea has had problems with the price and supply of essential drugs such as Gleevec for leukemia, Fuzeon for HIV/AIDS, and Tamiflu for both avian flu and swine flu. The shortage or refusal of patented drugs supply is imposing a heavy burden in not only developing countries but also developed countries. Thinking over the serious results, we need to concern about the limited access to patented drugs by multinational drug companies' patent monopoly especially for pandemic and life threatening diseases. The effective response regarding to pandemic and life threatening diseases. The effective response regarding to pandemic situation requests collaborative and unbiased provisions of all countries in the world, however, sometimes patent monopoly may hinder the efforts. Compulsory licensing has been considered to be a useful alternative to the abuse of patent rights. However, the Korean experiences of compulsory licensing have left some controversial issues in connection with the availability of it in Korea. 'Flexibility' allowed in TRIPS and Doha Declaration has not come into effect in Korea for several reasons. Although the situation shows the limitations of compulsory licensing as a pharmaceutical supply policy, it is clear that compulsory licensing still has the possibilities of enhancing the access to medicines of all countries in need. Through searching the institutionalization process and experiments of compulsory licensing in Korea, this article explores the possibilities and the limits.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.139-146
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• 2004

Objective : While the demand for herbal medicine has increased continuously, scientific data attesting to pharmacological activity are still insufficient. One important reason, especially in child patients, is the shortage of standardized instruments for clinical research. This study was designed to develop a scale to assess the effect of herbal medicine in children. Methods : The authors chose Gami-jiwhangtang (GJT) as a standard formulation and developed a scale, Bahn's Drug Evaluation Scale (BaDES), for this experiment. Forty-two healthy children, 7 and 8 years old, living in Seoul, Korea, volunteered to use GJT. The experimental group received GJT for 6 weeks, whereas the control group received no medicine. The children's mothers in both groups completed the BaDES on the sixth and twelfth week after GJT was commenced. Results : The experimental group showed a significant improvement in overall physical condition and gastrointestinal function as compared with the control group. Conclusion : These results suggest that BaDES may be a useful assessment tool for measuring the effect of herbal medicine.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.41-49
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• 1994

Water- borne infectious diseases can be acquired by contact with contaminated water or by ingestion of contaminated water. There are many water- borne infectious agents such as bacteria, virus, and parasite. Among many of water- borne infectious diseases, health authorities of Korean government has particularly intensified to prevent and control typhoid fever(class I ), shigellosis(class I ), cholera(class I ), paratyphoid fever(class I), amebiasis(class II ) and leptospirosis(euivalent to class II ) under the communicable disease control law. Water- borne disease Prevention and control guideline itself has been also well provided by the health authorities. However, in practical public health point of view, there are still many problems remained to be solved out; no prospective investigation project to survey water borne infectious diseases under the national disease prevention and control programmes, incredible statistic data of annual notifiable disease report frequent appearance and varieties of drug resistance water- borne infectious agents, little cooperation and information- exchange system in between the related government authorities( the health authorities, the environment sanitation authorities and the food hygiene authorities) which should be closely collaborated, lack of health consciousness of the people, necessity of evaluation and Hndification on to the outcomes of performed health activities and programmes, neglect activities for water quality investigation, shortage of expertise and human resources in the related field, and poor investment of the government budget to develope and improve public health and sanitation field. In order to prevent and control water- borne infectious diseases effectively, it is emphasized that all the above indicated should be considered and performed to improve under the national health and sanitation development programmes.