Session (CTI)

ISSUE: Korea's pharmaceutical pricing system, long grounded in health technology assessment and negotiated list prices, now faces unprecedented external pressure. The renewed U.S. Most Favored Nation (MFN) initiative aims to benchmark American prices against the lowest prices in developed markets, while international reference pricing (IRP) networks across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific increasingly anchor on Korean prices. A fundamental question emerges: will MFN and IRP accelerate or undermine Korean patient access to innovative therapies — and which policy responses will best protect Korean patients? OVERVIEW: This 60-minute issue panel convenes three contrasting perspectives — from a pharmaceutical industry association, a pricing analyst, and a government or academic policy expert — to debate how MFN and IRP are reshaping Korea's pricing landscape and patient access dynamics. The first panelist will argue from an industry policy perspective that MFN and IRP are already undermining Korean patient access by altering global launch behavior, delaying innovative therapies, and discouraging transparent list pricing in Korea; protective responses are urgently needed. The second panelist will provide an empirical anchor, presenting quantitative analysis using the published list prices of recently listed drugs in Korea as reference benchmarks against U.S. prices under an MFN scenario. The findings reveal where Korean prices actually stand and how this positioning differentially affects access across therapeutic areas, complicating simple narratives. The third panelist will offer a government or academic counter-perspective, arguing that MFN and IRP, while disruptive, may also create opportunities for value-based pricing reform and equitable access mechanisms aligned with fiscal sustainability and evidence-based principles. A moderator will frame the debate, conduct opening and closing audience polls to track shifts in attendee views, and facilitate structured exchange. Participants will leave with sharper insight into trade-offs facing Korean pricing policy amid accelerating global pricing interdependence.