Perceptions of Regulatory Decision-Making for New Drugs From the Viewpoints of the Manufacturers in South Korea.

Regulatory decisions for new drugs approval present high uncertainty, low reversibility, the avoidance of observable errors, and high political stakes. However, research on the behavior of regulatory agencies is scarce, particularly in the context of more open decision-making processes. We aimed to evaluate the perceptions of regulatory decision-making for new drugs approval from the viewpoints of the manufacturers in South Korea.

Easy cuts, easy rebound: Drug expenditures with massive price cuts in Korea.

Backgrounds: Since 2012, the Korean government has introduced 46.5% price cut for off-patent medicines in order to reign everescalating drug expenditure. This study sought to appraise the impact of the price cut measure (in the context of Korean National Health Insurance system).

Do Physicians Change Prescription Practice in Response to Financial Incentives?

We assessed the impact on physician prescription behaviors of an outpatient prescription incentive program providing financial rewards to primary care physicians for saving prescription costs in South Korea. A 10% sample of clinics (N = 1,625) was randomly selected from all clinics in the National Health Insurance claims database for the years 2009-2012, and all claims with the primary diagnosis of peptic ulcer or gastro-esophageal reflux diseases were extracted from those clinics' data. A clinic-level random-effects model was used.

Improved Administration of Antibiotics in the Emergency Department: A Practice Improvement Project.

Problem: Although consensus exists among experts that early intravenous antibiotic therapy has an impact on patient mortality, the medical literature includes little information about ensuring that the patient receives the complete dose. At our emergency department, it had become standard clinical practice to administer antibiotics with primary pump tubing and an infusion pump. Clinical pharmacy staff identified this practice as a cause for concern, because at least 20 mL (up to 40%) of the dose volume remains in the tubing.

Effects of pharmaceutical cost containment policies on doctors' prescribing behavior: Focus on antibiotics.

Objectives: We analyzed the effect of the outpatient prescription incentive program and price cuts of listed medicines in South Korea on prescription drug expenditures and prescription behaviors, focusing on antibiotics for the most common infectious diseases.

Methods: We used the National Health Insurance claims data from January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2012. For 1625 primary clinics randomly sampled, we included all claims with principal diagnoses of acute upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs, J00-J06), acute lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs, J20-J22), or otitis media (H65, H66).

Use of injectable drugs with oral-formulation alternatives for outpatients in South Korea.

This study analyzed the use of injectable drugs with oral-formulation alternatives in the outpatient setting in South Korea. We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional data analysis using 2008 National Health Insurance claims data. All active ingredients were categorized into dual-formulation ingredients (DFIs) and single formulation ingredients (SFIs), and were identified by the type of healthcare service provider (HSP) and anatomical therapeutic chemical (ATC) group.

Unique perception of clinical trials by Korean cancer patients.

Background: In the past few years, the number of clinical trials has increased rapidly in East Asia, especially for gastric and hepatobiliary cancer that are prevalent in Asian populations. However, the actual degree of understanding or perceptions of clinical trials by cancer patients in East Asian countries have seldom been studied.

Methods: Between July 1st and November 30th of 2011, we conducted a prospective study to survey cancer patients regarding their awareness of, and willingness to participate in, a clinical trial.

Sociodemographic factors influencing the use of injections in South Korean outpatient care.

Purpose: This study explored the relationship between sociodemographic factors and injection utilization in South Korea.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional analysis using 2009 prescription claims for Korean National Health Insurance beneficiaries. We analyzed the utilization, costs, and proportion of injections in the insured market for oral-injection dual-dose-form ingredients (DFIs).

Effect of switching antipsychotics on antiparkinsonian medication use in schizophrenia: population-based study.

Background: The extent to which atypical antipsychotics have a lower incidence of extrapyramidal symptoms than typical antipsychotics has not been well-evaluated in community practice.

Aims: To examine the effects of switching antipsychotics on antiparkinsonian medication use among individuals with schizophrenia in UK general practices.

Method: We included those switched from typical to atypical antipsychotics (n=209) or from one typical antipsychotic to another (n=261) from 1994 to 1998.

Antibiotic use following a Korean national policy to prohibit medication dispensing by physicians.

This study investigated whether a Korean national policy prohibiting doctors from dispensing drugs as of 2000 selectively reduced inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in viral illness compared with bacterial illness. We assessed the proportions of episodes prescribed an antibiotic and the number of different antibiotics prescribed for patients with viral and bacterial illness episodes before and after the policy. The nationally representative sample consisted of 50,999 episodes (18,656 viral and 7758 bacterial pre-policy, 16,736 viral and 7849 bacterial post-policy) from 1372 primary care clinics.

Identification of rice (Oryza sativa) proteins linked to the cyclin-mediated regulation of the cell cycle.

Yeast two-hybrid assays were used to identify rice proteins interacting with two rice cyclins and other proteins potentially involved in cell cycling. The DNA sequences encoding 119 protein fragments identified were then compared by BLAST against proteins in GenBank. The proteins found include myosin-like proteins, transcription factors, kinesins, centromere proteins and undefined proteins.

Knowledge and beliefs of primary care physicians, pharmacists, and parents on antibiotic use for the pediatric common cold.

The aim of this study is to investigate knowledge and beliefs of primary care physicians (e.g. family practitioners and pediatricians), pharmacists, and parents regarding the use of antibiotics for the pediatric common cold, using a self-administered questionnaire for physicians and pharmacists and a telephone interview for parents.

A network of rice genes associated with stress response and seed development.

We used a systematic approach to build a network of genes associated with developmental and stress responses in rice by identifying interaction domains for 200 proteins from stressed and developing tissues, by measuring the associated gene expression changes in different tissues exposed to a variety of environmental, biological, and chemical stress treatments, and by localizing the cognate genes to regions of stress-tolerance trait genetic loci. The integrated data set suggests that similar genes respond to environmental cues and stresses, and some may also regulate development. We demonstrate that the data can be used to correctly predict gene function in monocots and dicots.

A draft sequence of the rice genome (Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica).

The genome of the japonica subspecies of rice, an important cereal and model monocot, was sequenced and assembled by whole-genome shotgun sequencing. The assembled sequence covers 93% of the 420-megabase genome. Gene predictions on the assembled sequence suggest that the genome contains 32,000 to 50,000 genes.