The manufacturing output of the antiarteriosclerotic agent, antibiotic, antihypertensive exceeded 1 trillion won ($ 900 million), respectively, last year.
The data was released through the 2016 report of pharmaceutical products by the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association(KPBMA)한국제약바이오협회(chairman Won Hee-mok원희목). The report includes annual production data at 737 companies that manufacture 30,218 drugs including end products, raw material medicines, drugs and quasi-medicinal products.
The association annually publishes the report to collect and analyze the production status of domestic drug makers, which usually announce quarterly results.
The report also includes the number of employees in pharmaceuticals, the outputs of over-the-counter and prescribed medicines, the production list by effect, the outputs of new drugs developed in Korea, and the list of top 50 end products.
The total output of pharmaceutical drugs in 2016 reached 28.6 trillion won including end products with 16.31 trillion won, raw material medicines with 2.28 trillion and quasi-medicinal products with 1.94 trillion won.
The total output has increased 47.7 percent for the past 10 years, with an annual average growth rate of 4.5 percent. Also, the ratio of prescribed to over-the-counter medicines has been maintained at 87 to 17 since 2012.
The output of prescribed medicines rose 51.6 percent to 13.29 trillion won in 2016 from 10 years earlier. Over-the-counter medicines, however, has only inched up 2.7 percent to 2 trillion won during the same period. And the average annual increases of prescribed and over-the-counter drugs were 5.6 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, over the past 10 years.
By effect, the annual production of the antiarteriosclerotic agent, antibiotic, antihypertensive exceeded one trillion won, respectively, last year.
The production of the antiarteriosclerotic agent topped with 1.16 trillion won, followed by antibiotic with 1.13 trillion won and antihypertensive with 1.12 trillion won.
The antiarteriosclerotic agent and antihypertensive drug have increased 10.5 percent and 3.7 percent annually. The prescriptions of antidiabetic therapy amounted to 344.3 billion won last year and its annual average growth was 4.8 percent for the past decade. The prescriptions of fever reducer, pain killer, and anti-inflammatory drugs and peptic ulcer drugs were 953.4 billion won and 939.4 billion won, respectively, in 2016.
According to the production trend from 2012 to 2016, vitamin showed the highest growth rate with 21 percent, followed by poisons and toxoid with 15.6 percent, other drugs related to the central nervous system with 14.6 percent, the antiarteriosclerotic agent with 10.5 percent, and ophthalmic drugs with 10 percent.
The report also showed the number of employees working in the pharmaceutical industry. The number has increased 30.9 percent to 94,929 in 2016 from 2007.
The pharmaceutical industry has increased the employment by 3.2 percent on average per year and the manufacturing positions took up the largest proportion with 33.8 percent. Sales positions had the second largest with 27.9 percent, administrative positions with 18.5 percent, research positions with 12.5 percent, and others with 7.3 percent. The portions of the research position and manufacturing position rose by 3 percentage points and 3.1 percent points respectively, from 10 years ago, but the sales position has decreased by 7.1 percentage points.
Meanwhile, the association collects the production data of pharmaceutical products every year and submits quarterly reports to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS)식품의약품안전처 and Drug Information Center(DIC)의약품관리종합정보센터, and the annual reports to the ministry.