Which factor reduces pharmaceutical expenditure, number of entrants or price variance? Updated generic drug markets in South Korea.

Background: Introducing more generics has been a successful strategy for lowering pharmaceutical prices and expenditure. However, the effect of the strategy depends on the pricing schemes for generics. We aimed to update the South Korean generic markets in terms of effective competition, and to examine the effects of number of manufacturers and price variance on pharmaceutical expenditure.

Methods: We constructed balanced panel data provided by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service covering 726 reimbursed substances from 2019 to 2023. We developed original indicators to analyze the generic markets: the maximum-minimum price variance (MMPV) and the maximum-weighted price variance (MWPV). Panel regression with fixed and time-fixed effects was used.

Results: Over the study period, the number of manufacturers increased from 17.81 in 2019 to 20.98 in 2020 and then decreased to 18.70 in 2023. The MMPV increased from 204.70 in 2019 to 230.07 in 2022 and then decreased slightly to 225.34 in 2023. The MWPV increased from 59.70 in 2019 to 72.58 in 2023. Two types of segmented markets were noteworthy: low use of low-cost generics with sufficient manufacturers and high use of low-cost generics with insufficient manufacturers. In the fixed and time-fixed effects panel analyses, the MWPV presented a negative association with the number of manufacturers and a positive association with the MMPV.

Conclusions: A newly introduced tiered pricing scheme, designed to differentiate generic prices, was associated with a decrease in the number of manufacturers and an increase in price dispersion. The pricing schemes for generics should be designed with price variance in mind and limit the number of too many generics in South Korea.