Korean pharmaceutical companies and distributors supplied about 89 trillion won ($68.2 billion) worth of drugs last year, an increase of 10.2 percent from 2021.
In particular, the production of Covid-19 vaccines and cold medicines increased significantly.
The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) said Monday that it had published the “2022 Finished Medical Product Distribution Information Statistics,” which contains important figures on domestic finished drug production, import, and supply situations.
The total value of pharmaceuticals distributed last year was 88.9 trillion won, up 10.2 percent year-on-year. Wholesalers accounted for 55.3 percent, with 49.2 trillion won; manufacturers and importers accounted for the other 44.7 percent, with 39.7 trillion won.
The amount produced and imported by drug manufacturers and importers was 32.8 trillion won, up 7.4 percent yearly, or an increase of 2.2 trillion won. Among them, the amount of domestically produced drugs was 24.7 trillion won, up 13.3 percent on year thanks to an increase in the production of Covid-19 vaccines and cold medicines.
In particular, the production of cold medicines increased by 99.5 percent to 1.09 trillion won, of which 41.9 percent, or 458.7 billion won, were specialized drugs and the other 58.1 percent (636.1 billion won) were over-the-counter medicines.
Imports totaled 8.84 trillion won, down 7.4 percent year-on-year, or a decrease of 646.5 billion won. Three of the top five imported items were confirmed to be Covid-19 vaccines –Pfizer Korea's Cominaty Inj. and Cominaty 2 Inj., and Moderna Korea's Moderna Spikevax Inj.
Of the total drugs distributed, 35.6 trillion won worth was supplied to nursing institutions, an increase of 10.7 percent (3.4 trillion won) year-on-year, with reimbursed drugs totaling 28.4 trillion won, accounting for 83.2 percent.
The other 1.7 trillion won was confirmed to have been exported, supplied to the military, or as safety medical supplies.
The amount supplied to nursing facilities totaled 23 trillion won (64.6 percent), followed by 7.7 trillion won (21.7 percent) for general hospitals, 2.8 trillion won (7.8 percent) for neighborhood clinics, and 1.9 trillion won (5.3 percent) for other hospitals.
“The statistics were compiled based on the supply records of more than 3,800 drug suppliers,” said Lee So-young, head of the Korea Pharmaceutical Information Service (KPIS). “We will strive to contribute to the safe use of medicines by offering them for use by the pharmaceutical industry to produce medicines and stabilize supply and demand.”
The finished drug distribution information statistics will be available on the HIRA’s website (www.hira.or.kr) and the KPIS portal (biz.kpis.or.kr). It will also be available on Statistics Korea's national statistics portal KOSIS (www.kosis.kr).