Doctors required to check patient's fentanyl use history before new prescriptions

Starting June 14, doctors and dentists in Korea will be required to check a patient's history of fentanyl-based medications before issuing new prescriptions.

The new regulation, announced by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) Commissioner Oh Yu-kyoung, aims to curb the misuse and over-prescription of potent narcotics.

Under the revised Narcotics Control Act, healthcare providers must review the patient's prescription history over the past year. If there are concerns about potential misuse, such as excessive or duplicate prescriptions, the doctor or dentist has the discretion to withhold the medication.

Patients will be informed beforehand that their prescription history will be checked.

The regulation covers 39 fentanyl products from nine companies, including Janssen Korea, Myungmoon Pharm, Hanlim Pharm, Pharmbio Korea, Daewon Pharmaceutical, BCWorld Pharm, Hyundai Pharm, Menarini Korea, and Teva-Handok.

To facilitate compliance, the prescription software used by medical institutions will be integrated with the government’s Narcotics Comprehensive Management System, providing an automatic notification and easy access to a patient's narcotic prescription history.

To ensure the smooth implementation of this new system, the MFDS will operate a ‘Narcotic Prescription History Inquiry Inconvenience Reporting Center’ from June 14 through September. Concerns can be reported via phone at 1670-6721 or through a notification banner on the website (data.nims.or.kr).

Additionally, doctors facing technical issues with the prescription software will be exempt from fines for a specified period.

"With this system, we can prevent patients from obtaining excessive or duplicate prescriptions for fentanyl tablets and patches from multiple medical institutions, thereby reducing the misuse of narcotics,” said Chae Kyu-han, Director of the Narcotics Safety Planning Division at MFDS.