The drug that was clinically tested and prescribed at my father's hospital was made by my son's company.

[Trading health]
<1> Suspicious love triangle
Hospital A in Seoul, a mecca for clinical trials
My son's CEO is pushing pharmaceutical products manufactured by his company.
Possession of violation of Pharmaceutical Affairs Act and Fair Trade Act
Hospital A "Preferential treatment? Side effects? No problem."

Hospital A in Seoul, ‘everyone in the know’ knows. It is a comprehensive secondary general hospital designated by the government that is responsible for essential local medical care. The size is also considerable. According to data received by the office of Democratic Party lawmaker Seo Mi-hwa from the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, the hospital's revenue last year amounted to 162.5 billion won.

Hospital A is a ‘holy place for clinical trials’It is called. Clinical trials are research activities conducted on humans (patients or healthy adults) to confirm the safety and effectiveness of medicines. Among them, Hospital A is a leader in 'bioequivalence testing' (clinical testing of generic drugs), which determines whether generic drugs (generics) show the same efficacy as existing drugs (original drugs).

As it is a sacred place, the number of tests performed is unrivaled. Hankook Ilbo checked the number of generic drug clinical trials reported to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety from 2021 to August of this year.Of the total 1,437 cases, 569 (39.6%) were at Hospital A.It was. There was a significant gap with Hospital B, which ranked second (386 cases, 26.9%).

The pride is also great. On the hospital's clinical trial center website, there is a phrase that says, "We have been leading the development of domestic clinical trials." They added that it is a “world-class clinical trial institution” and “groundbreaking efforts and progress.”Annual sales of the clinical trial center are 20 billion won.It is said to be degree.

There's a reason it's doing well

Clinical trials are subject to approval by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. It may be necessary to have sufficient facilities and professional personnel, such as a medicine storage room. As of last September, there were approximately 208 approved clinical trial conducting facilities nationwide.

How did Hospital A become the dominant force in clinical trials for generic drugs?The industry largely cites three reasons.

firstFacilities and personnelam. Generic drug clinical trials are tests that compare the efficacy of existing drugs whose patents have expired with those of generic drugs. It is important to statistically confirm to what extent the absorption rate in the body is equivalent to that of existing drugs. Therefore, the external conditions of participants, such as sleeping, waking up, and eating, must be controlled. Medication and blood collection must also be performed simultaneously. This means that lodging, lodging, and management personnel are essential.

Hospital A is one of the few hospitals that can afford this. Since opening the clinical research center in 2011, it has been expanded and expanded more than three times. The medical staff is also said to be specialized in clinical trials of generic drugs. Hong Jeong-hee, head of the Drug Efficacy Equivalence Division at the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, said, “The concentration of cases at a specific hospital means, in other words, that the hospital in question is skilled in clinical trials of generic drugs.”

price competitivenessclasslocationYou can't ignore it either. Tertiary hospitals, such as university hospitals, mainly conduct clinical trials for severe and rare diseases. It is difficult and expensive. On the other hand, clinical trials for generic drugs only need to check the absorption rate in the body. It is less than half the price compared to university hospitals. A pharmaceutical company official said, “In the case of Hospital A, the cost is around 200 million won.” The hospital's location in Seoul, within a 200-meter radius of a subway station, also serves as an advantage in recruiting test participants.
 

My son's medicine is undergoing clinical trials at his father's hospital.

But what the industry is really paying attention to isA Unique hospital-centered ‘clinical trial ecosystem’all. This is because the business structure that hospitals have built over several years is designed to maximize ‘their profits.’

The key is the Chairman of the Board of Hospital A.am. He is one of the leading figures in the medical field, having served as president of the Korean Hospital Association and president of the Korea Small and Medium Hospital Association.He is the head of a public institution under the current government and is close to former President Yoon Seok-yeol.Because of this, I often went up and down Ibbanga. The first son is the director of the hospital and the second son is the director of the administrative center. The administrative director is the vice president.

Of course, there is no reason to view family business as strange. howeverI When a pharmaceutical company appearsThe picture changes significantly. I Pharmaceutical Company was created by the chairman of the hospital's board of directors by acquiring an existing pharmaceutical company in 2019, and is still the largest shareholder (holding 21.03%). The CEO is the second son of the chairman, who also owns 8.92% of the stock.

Hospitals and pharmaceutical companiesA relationship that pushes and pulls each other through clinical trialsall.The father's hospital is fully responsible for the clinical trials conducted by the son's pharmaceutical company.. Since June 2020, pharmaceutical companies have registered a total of 13 clinical trials for generic drugs with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and all of them were conducted by Father's Hospital.

The second son is also the head of administration at the hospital. The administrative director is responsible for the hospital's clinical trial center.Clinical trials of the drug I created are being conducted at a hospital under my jurisdiction.That is to say.

After clinical trials... Dad's hospital purchases son's medicine in bulk

Adhesion continues after clinical trials.Analyzing the data obtained by Hankook Ilbo from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, data submitted by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) and the National Health Insurance Service to Rep. Seo Mi-hwa's office, and the prescription history of Hospital A, Pharmaceutical Company I has been Until recently, a total of 32 prescription and over-the-counter drugs have received approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. andHalf of them (at least 15) are supplied to Hospital A.did itThe proportion of items is about 46.9%all.

The amount of prescriptions was also considerable.The father's hospital sells the son's pharmaceutical company's products.At least 600,000 tablets prescribed in the hospital aloneIt was found that it was done. It is mainly used to promote gastrointestinal motility and relieve inflammation and pain. The amount of outpatient prescriptions was higher than this.During the same period, the hospitalThere are at least 879,000 medicines prescribed outside hospitals.(Approximately 209,000 in 2021, 330,000 in 2022, 300,000 in 2023, and 40,000 in 2024). The number of out-of-hospital patients per day is said to be around 1,000 to 1,500.Hankook Ilbo confirmed 8 pharmacies within 500 meters of Hospital A.As a result, two pharmacies had records of prescriptions for reflux esophagitis drugs from Pharmaceutical Company I.

Hospital's 'push' focuses on the early stage of pharmaceutical business (2021-2022)Done. 37.4% of the total prescriptions in 2021 and 28.1% in 2022 were prescribed at my father's hospital. This figure is based on the specifications submitted to the HIRA. This means that the actual hospital prescription rate may be higher. A person who knows the hospital situation well said, "I understand that Pharmaceutical Company I mainly produced drugs used in Hospital A," and added, "I think they wanted the money to circulate 'within the family.'"

As a result, pharmaceutical company IIt grew rapidly. Sales, which were about 1,356.82 billion won in 2020, increased about 13 times in four years to about 17.2 billion won last year. A pharmaceutical industry official said, “For a new pharmaceutical company to break into a large hospital is in itself a ‘tremendous achievement.’” Hospital A, however, said, “What we purchased from Pharmaceutical Company I are inexpensive medicines that are routinely prescribed, such as gastric mucosa protectors.”

Hospital A says “no problem”, is that really true?

A Hospital says there is no problem, but is that really the case? This paper asked 22 experts from the medical, legal, and academic fields.

These are primarilyPointed out the problem of conflict of interest. Clinical trial-related laws, such as the 'Rules on the Safety of Medicines, etc.', require sponsors (pharmaceutical companies, etc.) and implementing agencies (hospitals, etc.) to keep each other in check to properly verify drug effects and side effects. This is because if one person is in charge of both the client and the implementing agency or is involved in a family relationship, it is difficult to properly keep checks even for their own economic interests. An official from a clinical trial center in Gyeonggi-do said, "If the researcher conducting the clinical trial is under conditions to be influenced by the foundation (hospital) and the chairman, there is a high possibility that bias will occur."

If checks are not made, the rights of participants are violated to that extent.You will receive it. For example, if a problem is discovered during a clinical trial, the trial should be stopped immediately and reported. However, in a structure like Hospital A, there is a high possibility that the problem will be neglected or covered up. Park Eun-jeong, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Health and Medical Research, said, “With this structure, it is difficult to properly respond to problems that arise.”
 

Many people are in violation of current laws such as the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act

There is ample scope to view it as a violation of current laws such as the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.It is interpreted that Lee Seo-hyung, advisor to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and head of the Daeryun Medical Pharmaceutical Group at Law Firm, said,The clinical trial sponsor and the conducting institution are virtually the same entity.If you hid this and wrote a clinical trial report and received approval for a drug product from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety,Interfering with the review work of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety may be considered a case of hierarchy (obstruction of official duties).“There is,” he pointed out.

Hospital purchase of pharmaceutical productsViolation of Fair Trade ActIt can also be seen as Kim Seong-jin, a representative attorney at K&L Law Firm and former member of the Fair Trade Commission, said, “(The chairman and his son)Specially related persons under the Fair Trade Act“Clinical trial commissioning and consignment and drug purchase, etc. fall under,” he said.It may be interpreted as an act of unfair support.“There is,” said group leader Seo-Hyung Lee. “The act of consigning a clinical trial can be interpreted as compensation for prescribing the company’s medicine, that is, an economic benefit (rebate), and in this case,The chairman's family can be accused of breach of trust, and the pharmaceutical company can be accused of breach of trust.“There is,” he said.

Hospital A strongly refuted this.Do it. Regarding the conduct of the clinical trial, he said, "Pharmaceutical Company I entrusted the clinical trial to Hospital A because it is an excellent and trustworthy institution. The clinical trial is carried out professionally and independently by six doctors from Hospital A, so it cannot be considered a conflict of interest." Regarding the purchase of medicines, he denied the possibility of preferential treatment, saying, "The Pharmacist Committee, composed of 10 expert members, is in charge of selecting and managing medicines." The person in charge of operating the hospital's clinical trial center said, "Clinical trials are conducted under the supervision of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and since there is a separate clinical trial analysis agency, issues of concern such as concealment of side effects cannot occur."

[View full article]
Hankook Ilbo - The drug clinically tested and prescribed at my father's hospital was made by my son's company (link)
Hankook Ilbo - Father and son's suspicious clinical trial ecosystem... The No. 1 recruiting company is also closely ‘on our side’ (link)