Shin EY, Hong YJ, Lim KM, Kim TH, Lee JH. International comparison of availability for orphan drugs: focused on approved orphan drugs in South Korea.
J Pharm Policy Pract 2024;
17:2354299. [PMID:
38845625 PMCID:
PMC11155423 DOI:
10.1080/20523211.2024.2354299]
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Abstract
Introduction
In this study, we aimed to comparatively analyse the indicators of availability to orphan drugs in South Korea, the United States of America, Europe Union, and Japan.
Methods
For 169 drugs designated as orphan drugs in South Korea between 2012 and 2021, information on the drugs designated as orphan drugs from each jurisdiction was extracted by country. Then, the availability indicators (approval time, drug lag time, and designation gap) were analysed for the drugs approved in each jurisdiction.
Results
The approval rate of drugs designated as orphan drugs were 11.22% and 6.31% in the USA and EU, respectively, which was lower than that of orphan drugs in South Korea and Japan. The highest number of approved drugs was in the USA (87 drugs), EU 27 drugs, Japan 22 drugs and Korea 21 drugs. Furthermore, the approval time significantly differed between South Korea and the other countries. South Korea had a significantly different drug lag time and designation gap compared with the USA and EU.
Conclusion
Our findings show that to fundamentally improve the access to treatments for rare disease, a policy of regulatory science that can comprehensively support the early stages of research and development and commercialisation is needed.
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