Yonsei Student Pharmacist
THE
BLUE
VANGUARD
2017 summer
Vol. 11 04 PHARMACEUTICALS Paul Lee, CEO of Gilead Science Korea 14 CAMPUS LIFE “Freshmen Greet-er” : Preparation for Greeting Freshmen 24 NATIONAL ISSUE The Influence of ‘Kim Young Ran Act’ in Pharmaceutical Field
Improving Patient Care At Gilead, we are working to discover, develop and commercialize innovative therapeutics in areas of unmet medical need. Through our portfolio of marketed products and our pipeline of investigational compounds, we strive to set new standards that can ultimately change the way diseases are treated with the goal of improving patient care around the world.
For more information, please visit website www.gilead.com www.gilead.co.kr
CONTENTS CAREER OF PHARMACIST 04 06 08 10
Paul Lee, CEO of Gilead Science Korea Dae Hee Lee, the Medical Head of Boehringer Ingelheim An Exciting Interview with a Pharmacist, Lee Ji-Hyun What Does a Pharmacist Do in Pharmaceutical Company
STUDENT LIFE 12 14 16 18
an Graduate and Freshm for Greeting Freshmen n io at ar ep Pr : r" -e et "Freshmen Gre al Meeting in Taiwan tic eu ac m ar Ph of y or St " Weight Loss Drugs ed en pp Ha s Ha g hin ot "N
ISSUE 20 Fake Drugs Ca n Be Delivered to Yo u Any Time 22 Marketing Str ategies in Pharmaceu tical Industry : Co-Promotion and Co-Marketing 24 The Influence of 'Kim Young Ran Act' in Pharmaceutic 26 Reorganization al Field of the Pharmaceutic al Col ege
FEEDBACK 29 Epilogue 31 Editor's note
2017 VOL.11
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PHARMACEUTICALS
Paul Lee, GM of Gilead Sciences Korea YoonJu Jang
O
sarahjang99@naver.com
n March 27th, the Blue Vanguard met Paul Lee, GM (General Manager) of the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Korea.
Having their motto
“Advancing Therapeutics, Improving Lives”, Gilead is a world-leading R&D-
centered biopharmaceutical company which strives to develop treatments for HIV/AIDS, liver diseases, inflammatory and respiratory diseases. The Blue Vanguard was warmly received by Paul Lee, and he kindly answered every question during the interview. The
Blue Vanguard would like to proudly share the interview of Paul Lee to the readers.
Why were you interested in pharmaceutics at first and what drove you ultimately to join Gilead Science Korea? It was such a coincidence for me as an MBA to enter on a pharmaceutical industry. I had an opportunity to work at medical device department in Johnson&Johnson health care company, a field closely related to pharmaceutics. I noticed that pharmaceutics not only deals with products crucially related to human lives, but also makes me feel rewarded by improving the quality of life. Before coming to Gilead, various incidents at a number of pharmaceutical companies were self-enlarging experiences as a representative. In AstraZeneca Korea, I altered the management system such as industrial merger. Based on my previous experiences, I applied my practical skills in settling Gilead in Korea as a new model of biopharmaceutical company, aiming to collaborate and make a good partnership with other companies.
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Tell us about Gilead’s operating systems and departments. Although Gilead has a short history, which has only been established in 1987, our company has been experienced dramatic growth, primarily focusing on life-threatening diseases. Our mission is to research on the diseases and patients with unmet medical needs. Before and until the company was founded, many people suffered from HIV because there was no proper medication. Therefore, Gilead developed HIV drugs, later hepatitis B, C, and antiviral drugs, in turn. Hepatitis C can be completely cured by the drug. Besides, the company did not mainly concentrate on common circulatory diseases, such as high blood pressure, but on orphan diseases that currently have no medicines. Tamiflu® was also developed by Gilead, but was outsourced to a bigger company, Roche. Gilead has a number of departments suitable for health and medical personnel. Regulatory department gets
PHARMACEUTICALS
permission of new drug and registers its price. This is where most pharmacists in our company are at. Medical affairs department delivers medical information to doctors. In clinical operation department, nurses and pharmacists monitor and manage global clinical tasks. Moreover, some pharmacists work in sales and marketing departments, as well. A number of campaigns were held. Why focusing on them? Please introduce some ongoing campaigns as well. The best contribution of a pharmaceutical company to society is to develop a good medicine. No other activities could be better than this one pill. Yet, this could become a reality when every member of the company has a clear work ethic and has an opportunity to feel the pain of the patients who are in needs of better medication. HIV patients are the main targets of the campaigns at Gilead. Besides financial and health problems, there still are a social discrimination and stigma towards them. Therefore, we would like to help them and we strongly believe that this small movement will make a difference one day. This year, we are doing a marathon campaign, and the goal is to encourage employees keep fit, as well as to financially help patients by simultaneous matching donation. Our slogan for the campaign is “we can’t, we can”, which means that even though we cannot completely cure AIDS, we can do everything to help alleviate the disease.
Tell us about Gilead’s most recently released drugs. The most recently released new drug is an improved version of the current HIV drugs. Although HIV patients have nearly the same life expectancy as normal people nowadays, they have to continue taking medication for the rest of their lives. Therefore, drugs with greater efficacy and less side effect need to be developed. The new drug has different modes of action; it not only has less risks on bones and kidneys compared to present HIV drugs, but also retains same efficacy with less dosage. Both new drug and the ongoing projects will have a synergic effect and will be a part in disease treatment. You’ve come to Yonsei Pharmacy school 2 years ago to give us a lecture. Can you also share the speech with readers? Any last word for pharmacy students? I once read a book called “Strength finder”, and the underlying meaning of the experiment illustrated in the book inspired me. The experiment says that when parents educate their children, those who get an A or a B on the test get less attention from their parents compared to those who get a C or an F. This implies although doing everything perfect is the optimum, if someone is talented in a certain thing, one should focus on and develop one’s own interest. My advice is that people should not disperse their energy to meet the aspects which company wants, but do what they are capable of and enhance their abilities. B 2017 VOL.11
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PHARMACEUTICALS
Dae Hee Lee, The Medical Head of
O
Seo Bin Park
jensbpark@yonsei.ac.kr
n February 27th, the Blue Vanguard interviewed Dae Hee Lee, the medical head of a pharmaceutical company named Boehringer Ingelheim (BI). BI is one of the top leading research-driven pharmaceutical companies that believes in “value through innovation” (VTI). Dae Hee Lee was the first full-time manager in pharmacoeconomics field, and his competitiveness along with the years of work experience led him to be in the position he is in today. He generously gave the Blue Vanguard an overview of his life, career, workplace, and even some life-changing advice.
The Medical Head’s Career BV: Please tell us about your experience so far. Prior to working in this industry, I studied preventive medicine in Yonsei University. Preventive medicine is divided into three subspecialties. First is Epidemiology, which is the study and analysis of the patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions. Second is Health Policy and Management, which is my subspecialty. Last is Environmental and Industrial Health, which examines how the environment, such as water and radiation, affects humans. Unlike other clinicians, I am more like a doctor that “sees the forest instead of the trees”. I believe that a population-based perspective is needed rather than an individual patientbased one. Afterward, I completed my master’s degree in Health and Medicine and did my Ph.D. in Management Accounting during my residency. Then since 2003, I started working in the pharmaceutical industry, and I was the first full-time manager in pharmacoeconomics field. I managed business development, licensing in-and-out in Handok-Aventis. However, after Aventis merged into Sanofi, I left Handok and joined Janssen. I had a difficult
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time there though, because I oversaw all three functions of pharmacoeconomics: market access, market research, and business development. As I worked more, I wanted to pursue further in the medical department, so I entered my third pharmaceutical company BMS. BV: Why did you decide to join Boehringer Ingelheim? During the seven years of working at my third company BMS, my role ranged from therapeutic areas to regional works. For regional works, I had to deal with therapeutic area-related issues of five different countries and support them. Doctors in Taiwan and Hong Kong each have distinct primary interest. The biggest benefit of global pharma company is that there are specialist track and management track. In the specialist track, one can grow into a task-oriented specialist in therapeutic areas, such as pharmacovigilance. Management track involves positions like the medical director, and it is mostly about people management. After all those years I devoted into regional works, I wanted a change and decided to challenge my abilities in the management field. This essentially drove me to join Boehringer Ingelheim (BI).
PHARMACEUTICALS
Other than that, the fact that BI is one of the top leading drug development companies allured me.
Boehringer Ingelheim BV: What are the subdivisions of the medical department? For most pharmaceutical companies, medical department’s main teams are often centered in global branches; consequently, there is not much function given to the Korean branch. In BI’s local branch, the medical department is largely consisted of clinical operation and medical affairs. Clinical operation aligns with the global branches and carries out clinical tests. Medical affairs supports local level operations. Besides these two main subdivisions, there are medical information that professionally shares data, questions, and answers, pharmacovigilance, regulatory affairs, and local clinical operation. A total of approximately eighty people are in the medical department as of now. BV: What are some goals and values considered important to BI and why? BI leads healthy life based on its motto, “value through innovation” (VTI). It strives to make innovative drugs like AntaGolin, which was the first oral diabetes medication proven to decrease cardiovascular risks. Cardiovascular problems have long been the ultimate reason to treat diabetes, and because this drug solved this issue for the first time, it is considered innovation. BV: What is the main business that BI is currently focusing on? BI recently sold all its over-the-counter (OTC) drugs to Sanofi and took over all Sanofi’s veterinary medicines; thus, BI is now the leading company regarding veterinary products. However always endeavoring for the best, BI places emphasis not only on veterinary medicines but also on ETC (prescription) drugs. BI conventionally has had circulatory and respiratory devices as its mains, and recently it started to cover diabetic products, such as Tradjenta (linagliptin), DPP-4 inhibitor, and Jardiance (empagliflozin), SGLT-2 inhibitor. As of now, only BI and AstraZeneca have both oral antidiabetic compounds, and this makes BI extremely competitive.
Future Pharmacists BV: What was the purpose of the internship, and what did the interns do? It is strenuous for salesperson to cover even a field of clinics, yet BI found out that many pharmacists do not know of the different types of Respimat inhalers and the proper way to use them. Hence, BI wanted pharmacy major students to educate the pharmacists, so that their patients could be instructed well. Although BI could have run Contracted Sales Organization (CSO), it believed that students could possibly learn a lot from experiencing sales. It is indeed difficult to communicate and persuade others, but by directly facing the pharmacists, students could improve their communication skills. However, they must broaden their experience as interns to grow exponentially. Companies ideally look for T-type individuals. The vertical of the T is the depth, and the horizontal of the T is the range. I strongly urge the students to excel in one area and have other side-interests. If they reach the peak of one field, they can see what is on the side. However, those who have never reached the top cannot see the other options that are available. Perhaps, mastering one brings insight that can be applied in other fields as well. BV: What are the employment competence in the medical department? Each function requires different competence, but the very basics of medical is science. After that is communication. A great communicator does not have to be talkative. It is rather about ultimately reaching the same understanding. There may be various ways to do so, such as giving timely updates, and individuals should figure out which work best for them. BV: Please give some advice to pharmacy students. Pharmacy graduates should realize that pharmaceutical companies try to have some diversity within their teams. For instance, a person who is good at establishing a strategy would ideally be put together with a person who can put a plan into practice. This basically means that the companies hire a suitable person not an overqualified one. Hence, always aim for the top and continuously challenge yourselves, because in the end, you become what you behold. B
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INTERVIEW
An Exciting Interview With A Pharmacist, Lee Ji-Hyun
A
Chaeyeon Won
sophiachaeyeon@gmail.com
pharmacist, Lee Ji-Hyun is a well-known writer of a book called, “How Medication Works”. She also has a distinct experience of working in Coquitlam, Canada. With this distinct background and work experience, she educates other pharmacists and lectures on television. It was a pleasure to interview a pharmacist like Lee Ji-Hyun.
As you have a career as a pharmacist and a career as a professor, isn’t it hard to balance between them? Yes. It is hard for me to make a balance between them. But since I am not a full time professor but a lecturer, I mostly teach practical tips. Also, my career as a pharmacist does help me a lot during lecturing. Each career reciprocally helps. Even a small talk from a random meeting helps me a lot. I also found health to be very important when balancing the two careers, so that I regularly exercise in order to have a sound health. What are the common features and differences between Korean and Canadian pharmacists? Main difference between the two is the patients’ respect toward pharmacists. In Canada, patients deeply trust and support pharmacists. On the other hand, in Korea, pharmacists are not trusted and supported as Canadian pharmacists are. A common feature would be that pharmacists have spirits of service as they deal with people. I think that Korean pharmacists sometimes do not understand the code of ethics. Moreover, we even do not have a standardized curricular about it. But, Canadian pharmacists are well-educated to be a trust-worthy health care provider. What made you go to specific region, Coquitlam, in Canada?
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Before I went to Canada, I read many articles about pharmacist Oh, the president of Korean community in Coquitlam, when I was in late 20s. I was very curious how she could open an independent pharmacy as one of the first Korean pharmacist who operated Korean pharmacy abroad. So I went to the specific region to work as an internship of student to see how she managed her pharmacy. It was a kind of an adventure for me and really interesting to know that a lot of Canadians come to Korean independent pharmacy. From my internship experience, I realized the differences in attitude between Korean and Canadian patients. You are well-known as a so-called, “a pharmacist educating pharmacists”. What exact information are you teaching? Mostly I teach them how pharmacists communicate with patients and address people’s concern. Drug knowledge itself cannot solely make a good pharmacist. Therefore, I always tell them to be a qualified pharmacist. I also put emphasis on communicating-based rapport and practical skills. When pharmacists deal with specific cases with patients, communication skills are very important, and that’s why the name of my lecture in Dong-guk University is ‘Communication Skills’. Since patients easily rely on the pharmacists for getting advice on health, pharmacists should always be available for any kind of advice which is related to general health.
INTERVIEW
What are your future goals and visions? My goal is to receive my doctoral degree this year. I also would like to present a vision not only to the juniors, but also to the public to think about various roles and works of pharmacists. Why did you choose to become a pharmacist? I had a longing to cure people since I was young. Moreover, I thought that pharmacist would have a lot of private and free time. Non-mandatory pharmacy management was another merit. Also, most of drug advertisements only focus on their effects and are customized with celebrities. So the public is not fully informed of the side effects, as well as proper usage of drugs. What do you personally think is an urgent issue in a pharmaceutical society? These days, there are a lot of pharmaceutical issues such as drug vending machines. However, apart from these issues, I believe that educating the roles of pharmacists is urgent. The public cannot fully understand the various roles of pharmacists such as triage depending on the condition of each patients, or monitoring the side effects of drugs. It is our duty to actively announce the different roles of pharmacists and proper usage of drugs.
Do you think that people know how they should use medication properly? No. Not at all. People are taking pills as if they are eating chips. Also, most of drug advertisements only focus on their effects and are customized with celebrities. So, the public is not fully informed of the side effects, as well as proper usage of drugs. What advice do you want to give to students who major in pharmacy? When attending school, students should mainly focus on learning knowledge, such as pharmacology and biology. This knowledge emerges and becomes a backbone of your career as you work as a pharmacist later in the future. For instance, when I was working in a lab, students who are from different major in pharmacy mainly think about how this research would cure people and benefit the society while those from different major only focus on chemicals. Moreover, I realized that communication skills and ability to empathize are very important when working in a society. I personally realized that I was indifferent to social issues when I talked to people from other fields. So I felt that having different kinds of experiences is greatly needed when I interact with other people and precede my career as a pharmacist. In short, not only the knowledge, but also the experience is crucial. B 2017 VOL.11
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PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
What Does A Pharmacist Do In Pharmaceutical Company ChiHyun Kim
chihyun4@naver.com
In Medical Department The medical department provides scientific and objective non-commercial pharmaceutical information directly to internal employees and external customers. Therefore, it is highly related to the pharmacist’s original function. Within the medical department, there are small departments that are responsible for various tasks. The names of these divisions vary from company to company, but they are divided into medical science liaison(MSL), medical information(MI), and pharmacovigillence(PV). The medical science liaison department is a scholarly channel linking the company and doctors, the main customer of ETC drug. In addition to providing product information to the physicians, it also proposes product symposiums and product clinical trials. In addition, MSL produces presentation materials such as new research results related to the product. Major works of the medical information department overlaps a lot with the MSL department. Therefore, there are many companies that do not distinguish between MI and MSL departments. The distinguish major role of the MI department is to provide in-house sales, and marketing staff training for diseases or products. The main task of pharmacovigilance department is collecting and reporting adverse reactions after the marketing of the drug. The PV department will be responsible for monitoring these adverse events. Also it regularly manages the drug stability profile and ensures that all pharmaceutical tasks follow the standards.
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PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
In RA and MA Department The Regulatory Affair(RA) and the Market Access(MA) department are ones that communicate with the health public institutions, such as the KFDA, the HIRA, etc. It carries out the necessary steps like licensing drugs and negotiating drug prices before releasing products. The RA department is responsible for the development and licensing of products. Therefore, it is necessary to have knowledge of laws related to various regulations such as pharmaceutical affairs laws. During the listing process of the developed drug, they prepare answers to questions of KFDA and solutions to obtain approval within the development schedule and manage product launches. In this process, it needs to communicate with the relevant departments of the KFDA, and thoroughly prepare the clinical data for the products. The MA department plays an active role in insurance entry and drug price negotiation through cost-effectiveness analysis. It is also called the Pricing and Reimbursement(P&R) department. In HIRA, an economic evaluation is conducted based on the clinical usefulness and cost effectiveness of new drugs or generic drugs to determine whether they are appropriate for receiving insurance benefit. In this process, the MA department submits the data to HIRA and keeps negotiations. After the insurance registration decision, the health insurance corporation determines the final drug price. In this process, preparation of data and negotiation power of MA department are essential.
In Marketing Department Marketing departments are often referred to as ‘flowers of the pharmaceutical industry’. Marketing is the final step in releasing a drug, so the rise and fall of the product is determined by the plans and profit goals set by the marketing department. The product manager(PM) is responsible for managing specific products in the marketing department. How efficiently PMs play their roles in determining the overall performance of the enterprise is crucial. In order to successfully launch their product, PMs monitor changes in the environment of the industry, identify the interactions of the internal and external environment, and implement strategies to achieve the objectives. Externally, it is essential to understand the consumer’s ‘needs’ and ‘wants’. In order to identify the needs and wants of a particular drug, PM should analyze the data of the disease, the prevalence, the competitive products, the primary consumers of the drug, the physicians and the pharmacists. Internally, the marketing department has to communicate with other departments within the pharmaceutical company. It is necessary to have constant dialogue regarding planning and executing the business with the medical, the development, the sales department and many more. Therefore, horizontal communication needs to be existed based on a sufficient understanding of the work of all related departments. Thereafter, the department members should have the ability to logically explain, constructively discuss, and persuade the relevant departments. In the pharmaceutical industry, the role of pharmacists is becoming more important as evidence-based marketing of products is emphasized. A pharmacist with expertise and communication skills would interact more easily with doctors, other pharmacists and patients who consume the drug and to work as a drug manager in cooperation with related departments internally. B
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FRESHMAN/GRADUATE
Graduate and Freshman Yulseung Sung
s.yulseung@yonsei.ac.kr
Their Story at College of Pharmacy, Yonsei University “taking a small peek on thoughts and views of alumni and freshman”
ALUMNI Yu Jin Choi
O
n February 27, 2017, third Freshmen of Yonsei Pharmacy have graduated. Their Graduation Ceremony took place in Yonsei Univeristy International Campus located in Songdo. All 15 professors were wearing gowns from their affiliation. The ceremony started from Veritas D where all lectures of College of Pharmacy take place. At 2 PM, all students stood up and the followed Korean Courtesy. Vice Dean of College of Pharmacy, Professor Ik Yeon Kim gave a short academic report of Yonsei University. Professor Gyoon Hee Han Dean of College of Pharmacy gave a short Congratulatory speech along with the speech of Professor Kyeong Tae Lee, Vice President of Yonsei University. All students came out to receive their degree and the conferment of the degree finished. As one generation finishes, next generation comes along. On February 16, 7th Freshman of Yonsei Univeristy College of Pharmacy were announced and finalized. 40 students with different background were admitted and are about to keep on the history of Yonsei Pharmacy.
Why did you decide to come to Pharmacy school? Do you think you have lived up to your motivations?
2010 - 2012 Yonsei Univeristy, College of Food and Nutrition 2013 - 2017 Yonsei Univeristy, College of Pharmacy 2017 - Now Pharmacist in Dispense Team of Severance Hospital
Why did you choose to go to the hospital after graduation? What is your dream now? One of many worries I had during my life in College of Pharmacy was “what is a true function of a Pharmacist?” Dispensing correct medicines to patients, communicating directly with patients, and providing high quality medication counseling were the answers that I came up with. In order to practice these qualities as a pharmacist, I chose my career path as a professional pharmacist in a hospital. Since it has only been two months in this world, I have not yet made specific plans for my future. However, I think it is important to keep on thinking about the true function of a pharmacist in a rapidly developing health and medical society. I do not wish to only consider about the true function of a pharmacist, but also contribute in widening the spectrum and domain of the true function of pharmacists.
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When I was in the college of Food and Nutrition, I had an opportunity to be introduced to Health Functional Food. In that lecture, it came to my interest that certain factors can affect one’s health state. While doing some research in that field, curiosity towards pharmaceutical and College of Pharmacy grew exponentially. Honestly, one of the biggest reasons in deciding my path was the advantage of being able to acquire a Pharmacist License. I have not achieved something special yet, but I am sure that it will be a worthwhile and meaningful accomplishment soon as I am working as a professional pharmacist in the hospital.
Would you like to share some of your enjoyable moments in Yonsei University? It is not that easy to choose one special moment in Songdo. However, visiting different and interesting places in Songdo with friends was entertaining. When I first entered Yonsei University in Songdo Campus, it was a desolate plain where cranes came to rest. As time passed, Songdo began to develop. Many delicious restaurants and marvelous courses for a stroll were established gradually. Visiting new places with my friends, upperclassmen and even lowerclassmen was fun. I am sure that no one knows decent restaurants as many as I do. I have even thought about making a “Map of Songdo’s Best Restaurants.” (I went to many and many places, but my favorite is Songjjoojip, in which I have visited since my freshman year.)
FRESHMAN/GRADUATE Why did you decide to study Pharmacy and was there a special reason you chose Yonsei University? Just a simple synthesis process of a famous drug in the corner of an Organic Chemistry Textbook was enough to catch my attention about the field of Pharmacy. I felt a strong desire inside me that I wanted to learn more about Pharmacy. Even so, I believed that the Pharmacy is an academic field where direct help and aiding patients are possible. Moreover, the reason I chose Yonsei University is because although it is a small group of people, all freshman, upperclassman, and even professors could communicate well and develop such a warm and friendly atmosphere. That is why I chose Yonsei University.
experience where I presented academic research related to pharmacists’ function in the future, past, and present. The Bachelor Degree in the College of Pharmacy is difficult to earn, so a it is impossible to experience our lowerclassmen might feel that and participate in various occasions. But I strongly recommend them to actively participate and earn a priceless experience while they are in Yonsei University, College of Pharmacy.
FRESHMAN Da Young Kim 2009 - 2014 Tokyo Korean School
What are your plans after graduation? What is your dream? I have no committed plans yet. However, I have many thoughts and dreams. I want to experience many fields such as Hospital Pharmacist, Pharmaceutical Companies, Cosmetic Firms, Fellow Researcher, and so on. I believe I will be able to finalize my decision during my academic years in Yonsei University. I will diligently participate in Yonsei Pharmacy’s practical training, internship programs in different corporations. I am sure that I will be able to find out my aptitude after these various experiences.
Could you give any advice for the freshman? Do you have any tips for the class of 2017? It is the same for any other parts, but I think it is important that, during undergraduate life, one should study hard, but play hard too. Whenever they encounter new experience, their life would be much more entertaining and interesting if they take that chance. Of course, I, also, did feel much study burden when I first came to the school. It may be a cliché but secret process is to concentrate hard during lectures and to study efficiently and compactly. Also, it was extremely helpful when our classmates shared their notes in which one person took charge in one subject. Studying hard was not everything in my life in Yonsei. I tried hard to participate in many provided opportunities because I was a student in a College of Pharmacy. All those experiences have become extremely precious now. I interviewed different pharmacists working in special and various professions while I was in The BlueVanguard. Furthermore, I was able to meet and talk with numerous pharmacists in Pharmacist Association. I also participated in Incheon Pharmacist Association held Incheon English Paper Presentation Competition. This was a special
2015 - 2016 Yonsei University, College of Chemistry 2017 - Now Yonsei Univeristy, College of Pharmacy
What is your biggest fear for the next four years in Yonsei Univeristy? I do not have many worries and fears for the next four years. Only thing that I am afraid of is the workload that I must bear in Yonsei Pharmacy. I have heard that the workload given to students of Yonsei University College of Pharmacy is almost unbearable. I have been told that people survive but it is not easy. Pharmacist State Examination is also worrying, too.
Do you have any reqeusts to the university? The only disappointment that I have is that College of Pharmacy is a bit alienated in Songdo Campus. Too much workload and the peculiar curriculum make it hard for students of College of Pharmacy to meet students from other majors. I think it will be much better if we had more opportunities to meet students majoring in different fields. Furthermore, as we study in International Campus for four years, it is impossible to actively participate in Yonsei Center Clubs, which take place in Sinchon Campus. I think it is difficult to have a conversation with people in different area as our classmen take all the classes together. B
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CAMPUS LIFE
“Freshmen Greet-er”
: Preparation for Greeting Freshmen
A
Soyeon Kim
ssoyeon5012@naver.com
lthough it seems like I have just started my college life in Yonsei Pharmacy as a freshman, time has passed and I found myself as a sophomore. Before a new school year starts, preparation for greeting freshmen was in full swing
in March. I still remember myself working hard studying for PEET and preparing for interview. I also remember
the overwhelming moment at the acceptance. In order to fulfill freshmen of 2017’s expectation, we, the sophomores, were busy as bees.
First of all, the president of the student council recruited a group of “Freshmen Greet-er”, who is in charge of planning the orientations and membership training, as well as encouraging them to participate in. This year, total of 20 sophomores, including me, volunteered as “Freshmen Greet-ers”. On December 16, 2016, all “Freshmen Greet-er” had the first meeting. Every one was full of excitement and responsibility. To redeem last year’s shortages, the meeting began with suggesting feedbacks from last year. Then, the members were divided into several teams and took a specific role. Second meeting was on January 3, 2017, and each team developed the idea from previous meeting and presented to the whole group. Apart from managing game contents, deciding whom the “X-man” is was another crucial part. “X-man” is an upperclassman who disguises oneself as a freshman, encourages ice breaking, and prevents any unexpected incidents within freshmen. The last gathering on 17th of January was to reaffirm and go over the entire plans.
Meeting & Planning
Orientation Programs
Song-do orientation was held in Yonsei University International Campus on February 14th. It was the very first event in which all freshmen and professors attend. After introducing WARAK, the 7th Yonsei Pharmacy student council, freshmen went on campus tour. They were divided into six small groups and visited six remarkable places in order. The six places were chosen based on the frequency of pharmacy students would visit in a new semester, and they include: 1) Yonsei Pharmacy Student Lounge, 2) Underwood Memorial Library, 3) Multimedia Room in Dormitory, 4) Chicken Stair (where students eat deliveries, especially chicken), 5) Vision Hall, and 6) Harmony Market. At each place, they had to complete a given mission, competing with other groups. Then, the Dean of Pharmacy department delivered a speech on the history of Yonsei Pharmacy. The day after Song-do orientation was the cheering orientation given by Akaraka, the cheerleading squad of Yonsei University. As a most prominent annual event, the Yon-Ko Games provide variety of interesting cheering songs and dances. The first thing to learn as a Yonsei freshman is to learn these songs and dances. Having actively learned the movements, freshmen seemed being closer and formed a stronger bond between them.
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CAMPUS LIFE
On February 17, there was a three-days membership training session. The main events of day 1 include competition through mini-games and introduction of various clubs of Yonsei Pharmacy. When I was a fresheman, I was convinced and decided to become a member of Blue Vanguard. Thus, I also anticipated many other freshmen to do so after the introduction session. The second day was full of active programs. I was in charge of Olympic program, which includes a relay race, strategic tug-of-war, and expressing words with behavior. From freshmen’s satisfied facial expressions, I was proud of myself as one in charge of the program. In talent show, the highlight of the membership training, three teams performed a short funny play each. They parodied the scenes from Harry Potter, the Goblin (a popular Korean drama), and Pokemon each. Both the audience and themselves were frightened by the creative ideas and actions of freshmen. The last program was the most important session in membership training: Yeonyak-ceremony. This is where every freshman got to choose a colored-alcohol-containing beverage called ‘Yeonyak-ju’ placed in front of the auditorium, commemorating being a member of Yonsei Pharmacy.
Membership Training
Mission Complete!
Last year, I was thrilled after participating in orientation programs and membership training, and this made me to have higher expectations afterwards. In fact, even more exciting moments of my campus life was waiting for me in Yonsei Pharmacy. Accordingly, I wanted to work as Freshmen Greet-er, inclining freshmen to feel the same as I did. Although attending the meetings was sometimes tiresome, I don’t regret my decision. I am rather proud of myself, especially when they tell me the frosh week was so rich in content and enjoyable. Thus, I would like to take this chance and welcome the freshmen once again. I hope freshmen of Yonsei Pharmacy not only achieve success in studying, but also experience a variety of extracurricular activities. Hope you enjoy your compus life. The Blue Vanguard wishes you a good luck! B
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GLOBAL NETWORK
Story Of PharmaceuticAL Meeting In Taiwan
E
HaYan Jang
jhywhite1004@naver.com
ntering collage of pharmacy, I had a strong desire to experience and learn about the field as much as I can. That is why I became a member of KNAPS, Korea National Association for Pharmaceutical Students. KNAPS is Korean branch of IPSF, International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation, so all members of KNAPS can interact with other pharmacy school students all around the world, who are members of IPSF. In fact, KNAPS and other East Asia IPSF member countries have continued their efforts to promote friendship. They decided to invite students for each National Congress in the same context. That is how I could grabbed an opportunity to attend Pharmacy students’ Association of Taiwan’s National Congress (PSATW). PSATW is a Taiwan branch of IPSF. Now, I would like to share my amazing experience in Taiwan.
Five Korean pharmacy students visited PSATW National Congress(NC), and I was one of them. Although I was concerned about having a conversation in English, I was so exciting to meet Taiwanese students and understand their culture. Kaohsiung, the venue for the National Congress, is located in the southern part of Taiwan. When we arrived at Kaohsiung station, Taiwanese manager Michael was waiting to pick us up. Thanks to his kindness, we were able to break the awkwardness around us. There was another Taiwanese manager Jenny. They were also members of PSA-TW and staffs who were in charge of international exchange at the same time. They guided us during the whole National Congress.
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THE BLUE VANGUARD
Taiwan National Congress lasted for four days. We had eight lectures during congress. Although it was difficult to understand every contents of the speech since the lecturers spoke in Chinese, Michael and Jenny helped us understand the lecture. The speech was very informative. One of the most memorable parts was about ‘MR’, the Medical Representative. Taiwan Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management Association’s chairman introduced MR. Medical representatives are the key point of contact between pharmaceutical and medical companies and healthcare professionals. That is, they promote and sell drugs or medical equipment to docters, nurses or pharmacists. Medical Representatives should be fully aware of the products and be able to provide advice of proper drug use. So if pharmacists learn about MR and acquire certificate, it would be advantageous for marketing department of pharmaceutical company. He also emphasized that marketing internship is essential ability of industry pharmacist. I agreed on the fact that it would be better for pharmacists to know about medicine better than anyone and also be skillful at medicinal marketing. Though MR system does not exist in Korea yet, I hope it could be introduced in Korea soon.
GLOBAL NETWORK
In addition, there were lectures about ‘management of pharmacy’ and ‘Chinese medicine’. I was familiar with the terms they used such as COPD, gout or Allopurinol. No matter where we were from or what languages we used, I felt a sense of intimacy and connection as in the same profession. Also, I saw that we think over the similar problems such as a medical dispute or medication counseling. The keyword of workshop was ‘International Pharmacy’. Jenny delivered a lecture about pharmacy international organization, like IPSF, FIP and WHO. She showed what pharmacists are doing and what our roles in these global organizations are. Through the workshop, I realized that I was narrow-minded. Actually in Korea, pharmacists are not even included in ‘health care provider’, pharmacists in the world contribute to improve health and prevent diseases. I also could broaden my perspective on what I can do for mankind as pharmacist with the world stage. I had a great time talking with Taiwanese pharmacy students while eating meal or moving during the congress. We were interested in each other’s pharmaceutical education. There were many differences between Korea and Taiwan.
For example, we have to take ‘Pharmacy Education Eligibility Test’ (PEET) to get in college of pharmacy, whereas they have four-year-course and six-year-course. Taiwan’s six-year-course is specialized for clinical pharmacist, so they practice for one and a half year in hospital before graduation. Although Korea intends to breed up clinical pharmacist, training only six months might be insufficient compared to other countries. Korea takes national examination one time just before the graduate. However, Taiwan has two stages of qualifying examination, so they take first exam while in college, and second one after graduation. They actually have low rate of passing the exams. I was surprised at the fact that there was no such a major as ‘oriental pharmacy’. Therefore, it is possible to get a certificate for oriental pharmacists if one takes a course for it and take the exam. We were able to understand each other’s culture and education during sightseeing in Kaohsiung in spare time. Based on what I experienced in Taiwan, I would surely like to recommend visiting other countries and share your knowledge with ones in the same field and broaden your perspectives! B
2017 VOL.11
17
COLUMN
“Nothing Has Happened” Weight Loss Drugs SooJung Kim
helenkim1212@naver.com
1
65cm, 47kg. Nowadays, this kind of physical profile is common between female Korean pop singers. The more the media present inordinately thin celebrities, the more people want to become as skinny as models and actors on TV. This phenomena has penetrated deep inside our society. Controlling weight, especially for women, is sometimes considered as a scale of self management, and this has made the market of diet supplements to grow rapidly. There are over a thousand supplements that you can easily purchase from the internet. Surprisingly, on a survey from ‘University Tomorrow’, 45.2% of students replied that they are currently on a diet. The survey also revealed that each person has tried to lose his or her weight 5.1 times on average. We can infer that the desire to lose weight is usually unsuccessful.
There are various diet supplements so called ‘diet drugs’, but most of them are just companions that are categorized as ‘health functional food’. Real drugs can be split into prescribed drugs and over-the-counter drugs. In this article, I would like to introduce over-thecounter drugs used for weight loss, as those are the ones pharmacists would actually deal with. Only three types of over-the-counter drugs were approved to be used for weight loss. The first one is made from a crude drug, ‘Divaricate Saposhnikovia Miraculous Powder’. This contains ephedrine, a medication often used for asthma, narcolepsy, low blood pressure and obesity. Ephedrine stimulates thermogenesis mostly in the skeletal muscle and decreases gastric emptying. Ephedrine and methly-xanthines, such as caffeine, have synergistic effect, making compound drugs more effective.
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THE BLUE VANGUARD
COLUMN
In oriental treatment, ‘Divaricate Saposhnikovia Miraculous Powder’ is used for common cold, urticaria, obesity, hypertension and constipation. Therefore, this drug will make you sweat, stimulate your hepatic function to degrade fat, and accelerate excretion. Salsarazin Tablet is an example of it. The next one will sound very familiar: it is Green tea and Orthosiphon (Java tea) powder. This is a type of health functional food in the USA. It is well known that drinking green tea helps you lose weight, but you might not have guessed that it is effective enough to be made as drugs. Catechin, a natural phenol from green tea, can improve high blood pressure and cholesterol problems. It stimulates fat degrading enzymes and inhibits fat synthesizing enzymes, such as phosphodiesterase. Due to the fact that green tea facilitates fat burn than other energy sources, it is of the best to take during exercise. Orthosipon powder stimulates diuretic effect and activates fat degrading enzymes. These herbal medicines with almost no adverse effects, thus, can be taken in long terms. Also, having not much drug-drug interactions ease the combination with other drugs. Last but not least, alginic acid compounds are helpful in diet. Alginates extracted from brown seaweeds has high absorbtion rate. It can absorb water up to 200-300 times heavier than itself. Alginic acid diet drugs such as Alloon tablets work at the stomach by absorbing water and expand, making the person feel full. These types of drugs are more related to anorectic agents, which means they cannot directly get rid of fat. Alginic acid drugs can help suppressing appetite, but they will be no use if taken with no other dietary or physical therapies. Nowadays, we often see drug advertisements where losing weight seems so easy. Many people start to take diet drugs, especially the over-the-counter drugs with no worries, as they can be easily bought. However, we, as pharmacists, should have knowledge of these drugs and help people to understand that the fit body they desire can only be made with dietary therapy and enough exercises. B
2017 VOL.11
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INTERNATIONAL ISSUE
Fake Drugs Can Be Delivered To You Any Time Seungjin Lee
I
seungjin0801@naver.com
n 2002, 100 patients were killed by severe adverse effects of a poor-quality tuberculosis in Pakistan’s Lahor hospital. In 2013, 8,000 patients died in India over the five-year period in a remote Himalayan hospital, because an antibiotic used to prevent infection after surgery had no effect. Counterfeit pharmaceuticals are a global issues, endangering lives of patients. According to the World Health Organization, a counterfeit medicine is ‘a deliberately and fraudulently mislabeled medicine with respect to identity and/or source’. Thousands of people around the whole world are suffering from counterfeit medicines. As we can easily purchase medicines online, these poisons in the shape of lifesaving medicines can be delivered to you any time. Good examples of these drugs are fake Viagra, and anti-malaria agents.
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THE BLUE VANGUARD
INTERNATIONAL ISSUE
Erectile-dysfunction Pill
An erectile-dysfunction pill, commonly known as Viagra, is one of the most counterfeited drugs in the world. More than half a million fake Viagra pills have been seized by health officials. More than 90 percent of illegal unlicensed medication seized last year was for erectile problems. Because of onerousness and sexual harrassment, most men worrying about sexual function avoid urologic hospital and tend to purchase Viagra in an abnormal way. Furthermore, most men confuse erectile-dysfunction pill with a sexual enhancer. However, unlike sexual enhancer, the erectiledysfunction pill must be taken under a correct diagnosis and treatment. The circulation of counterfeit Viagra has largely increased from internet sales, and it is estimated that up to 77% of Viagra bought online is fake. The counterfeit Viagra can contain blue printer ink, amphetamines, and metronidazole which are powerful antibiotics that can cause an allergic reaction, diarrhea, or vomiting. It may also contain too much or not enough active ingredient, which may cause you harm, and binding agents, such as a drywall, that prevent the tablet from breaking down in your biological system.
Anti-malaria Counterfeit Medicines
Anti-malaria counterfeit medicines can be found anywhere, but they are especially prevalent in developing countries lacking effective drug regulatory agencies and resources in order to test drug quality. Some counterfeits contain ed a mixture of wrong active pharmaceutical ingredients, some of which might initially alleviate malaria symptoms but cannot perfectly cure the disease. The worst possibility is that these unexpected ingredients could make interactions with drugs that a patient has been currently taking, such as anti-retroviral therapies for HIV and cause serious side effects. Some counterfeits contained small quantities of artemisinin to ensure that the drug passes authenticity tests. Taken at such low levels, the drug is unlikely to rid the body of malaria parasites, leading to the emergence of strains of the parasite resistant to artemisinin.
Dangers of Fake Drug
Selling counterfeit drugs is a serious crime against humanity. Counterfeit drugs may contain toxic ingredients, such as boric acid, floor wax, brick dust, rat poison, and road paints. Furthermore, ingredients can have hazardous interactions with other medications. Psychologically, patients may feel protected or cured from a disease by taking those drugs when actually they are not. Counterfeit medicines are a threat to public health as they contribute to drug resistance in populations, eventually leading to increased infection rates. Lastly, it leads to increased health care spending due to tremendous amount of research and development of new drugs.
To terminate the usage of the counterfeit medicines, the cooperation of the government, the pharmaceutical industry and the public is needed. Scientists developed a way to tag drugs with QR Code including product name and model number. When consumer and pharmacy scan the QR Code, they can tell whether the drug is real or not. Patients need to check the packaging and look for any changes in the shape and color of the medicine, and if there is anything wrong, patients should immediately talk to pharmacist. Furthermore, obtaining a prescription from an in-person meeting with a doctor and purchasing the drugs at a qualified pharmacy is the first step to help patients obtain safe products. B
2017 VOL.11
21
INTERNATIONAL ISSUE
Marketing Strategies In Pharmaceutical Industry:
Co-Promotion and Co-Marketing Do Hyun Lee
A
dhleeaa@yonsei.ac.kr
good partner is crucial to successful business. Not only the multinational corporations, but also the pharmaceutical industries have been looking for business partners for several decades. Collaboration between
two pharmaceutical industries can be largely divided into “co-marketing” and “co-promotion”. However, these
terms often evoke confusion. To clarify, “co-marketing” refers to two different brands selling one identical product, while “co-promotion” deals with different sales forces with only one brand.
CO–MARKETING Recently, co-promotion is gaining at the expense of co-marketing. With the rise of biotechnology, both biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have encountered a range of difficulties in licensing negotiations, since the licensing agreements have become more complicated. Co-promotion resolves these strains to some extent, by offering highest potential payments of over 100 million dollars for out-licensers with marketing capabilities. According to Datamonitor’s primary research, co-promotion is the most attractive agreement type for both in- and out-licensers. Due to the fact that co-promotion is not only increasing promotional effectiveness, but also more flexible than co-marketing processes, partners can decide the payment method they prefer. In other words, they can decide to either share the profit without royalty or take higher royalties on sales. There has long been an aura of success associated with co-promotion agreements in the pharmaceutical industry. In the 1980s, Glaxo teamed up with Roche to bring Zantac® to market in the United States. This co-promotion alliance propelled Glaxo to number two in the United States, revived Roche after the patent expiration of Valium®, and overtook SmithKline’s Tagamet to become the world’s top-selling pharmaceutical. Lipitor® and Celebrex® added an additional dimension to the mystique of co-promotion: After hugely successful co-promotion outcomes, these alliances provoked acquisitions by the co-promotion partner – Pfizer in both instances. For several decades, these three pharmaceutical co-promotion deals have represented a “gold standard” in biotechnology’s contract with top pharmaceutical industries.
22
THE BLUE VANGUARD
INTERNATIONAL ISSUE
CO–PROMOTION With two companies cooperate with discrete distribution channels, co-marketing is one of the marketing practices used in the market. It is where two different companies share the profit. Co-marketing is based on the 7Cs Compass Model, with an approach from four Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) of marketing mix. In this customer-centered model, the four major elements of co-marketing are “Commodity”, “Cost”, “Channel”, and “Communication”. The earliest co-marketing agreements began in 1950s, of which meprobamate could be a suitable example. Signed by Carter Wallace, the drug was named Premairin® for Wallace and Milpath® for the co-marketing partner Ayerst. Another novel co-marketing agreement arose when Roche and Burroughs Wellcome combined their antibiotics, sulphamethoxazole and trimethoprin with product name Bactrim® and Septra®. In both cases, two companies agreed to sell one product by different names. According to the most recent report from “The Global Co-promotion and Co-marketing Partnering Terms and Agreements in Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Diagnostics 2010-2017”, deals can be either multicomponent or maximizing product’s presence in the market. The former takes the majority of the deals, and the licensor decides whether or not to co-market the product. The latter (maximizing product’s presence), by contrast, is a type of pure co-marketing. As described earlier, this strategy is for the benefit of the product itself and the originator, yet the licensor, is in charge of the deal.
For cost-constrained in-licensers, co-marketing would be a better choice than co-promotion. According to Jenny Berg, a senior analyst from Datamonitor, “if the targeted market is large enough, co-marketing may offer a higher return on investment than co-promotion. This is due to the higher sales leverage that the in-licenser may achieve by marketing a different brand on its own, in turn benefiting the out-licenser through higher royalties.”
CONCLUSION In conclusion, a pharmaceutical company considering collaboration with others should consider following factors: 1. “How much do you really know about your prospective partner?” 2. “Do the two businesses appeal to the same customers and have similar goals, compatible decision-making processes and shared business values?” and 3. “What happens if your partner wants to expand at a faster rate than you do?” Since the profit structure of co-marketing and copromotion varies, it is difficult to assert which one is a better marketing strategy between the two. The situation may alter case by case. Thus, the phamaceutical companies would better ponder for the optimal consequences and establish a win-win strategy for both sides. B
2017 VOL.11
23
NATIONAL ISSUE
The Influence of ‘Kim Young Ran Act’ in Pharmaceutical Field YoungJay Im
A
new anti-graft law, known as the “Kim Young Ran Act” after the former head of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC), went into effect on September 28, 2016.
This law was
enacted on March 27, 2015. Aiming to enhance transparency of the society, this strict anti-graft law affects over four million people. It was a major issue
in Korean society, including the pharmaceutical industry, and it has been over 200 days after its enforcement.
Effects in Pharmaceuticals Events such as seminars, sponsorship, and meal treating could be potential violations in pharmaceutical industries. Pharmaceuticals came up with a plan such as staff training and compliance programs which strengthened their internal regulations. Their salesperson changed their appearance from formal suits to casual dresses to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. Some companies have even changed their sales system. For instance, Yungjin Pharmaceutical adopted a new systematic evaluation system called ‘Sales Force Effectiveness’, which gives major analysis to the sales representative, so that it can strategically manage their customers. A portion of pharmaceutical companies concentrates in online marketing including details that targets doctors and pharmacists and reducing the scale of their traditional strategies. However, there is still a consensus that the exact criteria of the law are rather unclear. Thus, people behave carefully in order not to set an example. Nevertheless, the sales and PR who worry about the sales are trying to find some expedient.
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THE BLUE VANGUARD
lim_91@naver.com
NATIONAL ISSUE
Effects in Hospital Hospital employers posted a notice, saying ‘we will only accept support and encouragement from the patient’ and ‘we cannot receive any gifts from patients and their family’. After implementing the law, there is an atmosphere reducing conferences hosted by pharmaceutical companies or medical appliance manufactures. A decline in number of necessary conferences also generated complaints.
Effects in University The law also affects College of Pharmacy, especially for professors who participated in research and advisory activities with pharmaceutical companies. Now they are extremely reluctant to become known to the public. In addition, some changes are being made between professors and students. For instance, students cancelled a thank-you party for professors. Graduating students usually hold a professor appreciation banquet, but now they cancel or reduce the event. In addition, the holiday gifts offered by each other were not found this year.
Foreign Countries In the occasion of foreign countries, there is a rare case like ‘Conflict of Interest Act’ in the industry. However, there is a separate regulation focused on the rebate. In 1962, the United States enacted Bribery, Graft and Conflict of Interest Act to ban the bribery of public officials. On the other hand, pharmaceuticals prescribe for drug rebates rather than favors. For instance, “Sunshine Act” is a typical law implemented in the United States since 2014. If the company offers more than $10 of consulting fee, stock option and meal, it must be opened to website. If not, they may be fined up to $100,000. It was applied together with ex-post regulation, Anti-Kickback Statue. It prohibits acquiring any profit in medical service and sentenced up to five years in prison for violating the law.
There are many analyses about this Act. This law may differ by the circumstances because its wording is inexplicit and too wide in range. Some experts point out that the government`s interpretation is rather confusing. Considering the intent of the legislation, however, it is necessary to observe the law rooting out corruption. In my opinion, it would benefit the pharmaceutical field to deal with rebate or dubious cost problems for years to come; it may possibly change our society profoundly. B
Photo by chosun.com
Photo by jeilnew.kr
2017 VOL.11
25
COVER STORY
Reorganization of the Pharmaceutical College System Sol Kwon
E
rnjsthf94@naver.com
very Korean student who wants to major in pharmacy must take a test, called ‘PEET’. PEET, the abbreviation of Pharmacy Education Eligibility Test, is a basic qualification test that can evaluate the scholastic ability for
pharmaceutical education. In 2009, the pharmaceutical college system was reorganized from a four-year-course.
This idea was first introduced in 2006 for the purposes of improving the quality of the national health promotion and fostering pharmacists who correspond to international standards. Accordingly, only those who complete a basic education in other departments during 2 years are qualified to take the exam, PEET.
2008
Traditional 4-year-course pharmacy education system
2010 PEET
2011
Start a 2+4-year-course pharmacy education system
2015
The first pharmacists who graduated in new pharmacy education system
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THE BLUE VANGUARD
This system is called a 2+4-year-course.
The current status and results of pharmacy education after the introduction of the 2+4-year-course are as follows. First, pharmacy education in Korea is considered to have entered the global level through patient-oriented practical training. Clinical pharmacy was newly established, and practical training time has increased to 1400 hours. Second, expectations about the possibility of expanding social use of 2+4-year pharmacists have increased. The role of pharmacists as a healthcare team is emphasized through patient-centered clinical education and it is expected to advance into various fields in pharmaceutical industry such as research and development, marketing and learning. However, since the 2+4-year-course was first conducted, many people have claimed that this system caused a lot of problems. The first thing they pointed out was that the fundamental science had been collapsed in Korea as more and more students who major natural science chose to take PEET. The rate of students who leave of absence, drop out, or are expelled from school in chemistry or life science departments is abnormally high. In the case of one university in Metropolitan, the rate of those in chemistry department is about 46%, which is near the half. The rate of another capital region colleges reaches 37%~45% in basic science departments. It is relatively high compared to other departments’ rate in the same colleges, which is 15%~29%. A lot of people worry about that it leads to the shortage of talented students who will lead the development of basic science.
COVER STORY
The second problem of the 2+4-year-course is that it has increased competition for entrance. One of the purposes of this system was to reduce the competition among high school students. Before this was conducted, many high school students struggled to get a high score in the national academic aptitude test, which is called ‘Suneung’ to enter the pharmaceutical colleges. The Ministry of Education judged that if the qualification to get in the university of Pharmacy was only given to those who finished a 2-year education in another departments, the academic stress of high school students would be lessened. However, this 2+4-year-course had exactly the opposite effect. More and more high school students are choosing to enter the chemistry or life science departments which are preferred among the interested parties of Pharmacy. As a result, the competition rate of these departments has been increased and even more students take a burden. Also, the number of students who take PEET has been dramatically increased since 2009. The average ration of entrance exams is approaching 10 to 1 in 2016. This means that the existing competition aspect was transformed in another aspect after conducting the 2+4-year-course. Besides, there are more problems of 2+4-year course such as an increase of private education expenses. In the purpose of solving these problems, the argument that the 2+4-year-course must be integrated into the 6-year-course is spreading. In December 9th 2016, Korean Association of Pharmacy Education and National Association of Natural Science Societies held a debate to discuss about the system of pharmaceutical colleges. Most of the participants agreed that the existing system had a lot of problems and the integration into the 6-year-course was right. The advantages of it that they emphasized are as follows. First, pharmaceutical colleges could become fields of fostering talented researchers. Gyunhee Han, the Dean of Yonsei University of Pharmacy, pointed out the problem of curriculum under the existing 2+4-year-course and the qualitative deterioration of pharmaceutical education in the debate. He said that he planned to educate students under the flexible curriculum. However, students should take more than 160 credits during 4 years and should even learn all of the major subjects within 3 years because they must practice in the field during 1 year. In this situation, a class that delivers Bio Pharmacy which is evaluated as a promising field cannot be included in the curriculum because of the shortage of time. He stated that if the 6-year-course was conducted, students could learn about the basic parts of pharmacy more precisely and are able to focus more on applied sciences. In other words, pharmacy students can receive a qualitative education for becoming talented pharmaceutical researchers that lead the future pharmaceutical industry under the system of 6-yearcourse.
2017 VOL.11
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COVER STORY
Second, the admission rate for the graduate school of Pharmacy can be increased. Under the system of 2+4-yearcourse, the average age of pharmacy students has been increased since graduates and lots of students who fail to enter pharmaceutical colleges have a chance to enter university again. The increase of average age leads to the reduce of the number of entering graduate school. It is because that many pharmacy students choose an easy and fast way to become technical pharmacists rather than to be researchers who are truly needed for the development of pharmacology in Korea. According to Korean Association of Pharmacy Education, the admission rate for the graduate school of Pharmacy in Korea dropped from 20.1% in 2010 to 13.2% in 2015, down from a third in five years. Because of this, colleges of Medicine are often criticized that they degenerate into vocational training centers for pharmacists. Many people who are related to pharmacy anticipate that if the system is changed into the 6-year-course, the average age would be declined and more students would decide to enter the graduate school. The Ministry of Education acknowledges the validity of the six-year-course rather than the current 2+4-year-course in the aspects of prevention of basic science collapse, reduction of social costs, efficiency of pharmacy education and integration of segmented education. However, the Ministry of Education takes a wait-and-see attitude since it has been only 7 years since the transition of the pharmacy education system to the 2+4-year-course. Kim Hyung-ki, the secretary of the Ministry of Education, said that “Many people talk about the difficulties in supplying human resources under the 2+4-year-course in the biopharmaceutical industry. It is somewhat correct, but the main reason for lack of human resources is the lack of fair treatment for the pharmacy students.� He emphasized that improvement of treatment for students should be preceded and that the system of pharmaceutical colleges required more social consensus. Some people say that since the 2+4-year-course and the single 6-year-course both have advantages and disadvantages, it is desirable that the policy and system are changed in a way that autonomy is guaranteed rather than being tied to one system. It is possible to establish various types of pharmacy education in accordance with the course of the pharmacist who graduated in the long term. While operating the 4+2-year-course within the same universiry, it is also a possible way to guarentee the graduation after 4-year studying for those who want to enter the society as a non-pharmacists such as pharmacy researcher, a health administratior and so on. This way is expected to contribute to the activation of the graduate school, the research manpower, and the pharmaceutical industry. B
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THE BLUE VANGUARD
EPILOGUE
B Freshmen
Hyeonggu Kwon Dayoung Kim Yongwook Kim Eunyi Kim Jeyoung Son Doyun Oh Yousun Choi
2017. 5. 30. Editor-In-Chief Yoonju Jang
Vice Editor-In-Chief Dohyun Lee
Designers
Jihoon Jung Jiseung Hong Soyeon Kim Sohee Jo
Journalists
Soojung Kim Chihyun Kim Yulseung Sung Seungjin Lee Youngjay Im Sol Kwon Soyeon Kim Seobin Park Chaeyeon Won Hayan Jang
Address
University, College of Pharmacy, Yonsei -gu, Incheon 85 Songdogwahak-ro, Yeonsu 21983, Korea
Online Site
uard
https://issuu.com/bluevang
2017 VOL.11
29
EPILOGUE
Soojung Kim
The Blue Vanguard will be my first recommendation to every freshman of this college. It was a lot of work, but at the end of the day, I realized that it’s worth it. I’d like to thank every member for the wonderful job we’ve done. Goodbye! The Blue Vanguard has constantly motivated me to write and design unique articles and to meet new people. I wish for Blue Vanguard’s endless development much more than that I have developed in the Blue Vanguard.
Chihyun Kim The Blue Vanguard was one of precious memories that I made in Yonsei Pharmacy. I feel joyful and unhappy at the same time to finish my term. It was a pleasure, thank you.
Yulseung Sung I am proud of taking a significant role of the Blue Vanguard. Thanks to all of my fellow Blue Vanguard members and to those who helped us. Although I am leaving, I will always remember the valuable two and a half years of experience as a Blue Vanguardian.
Youngjay Im
Finally, appreciate thanks to together.
two years of The Blue Vanguard is over. I every one who helped The Blue Vanguard. Also, our fellow Blue Vanguardians who worked hard I hope the Blue Vanguard to develop day by day.
It was a pleasure to work as a Blue Vanguardian. I cannot believe that it is my last time taking part in the publication. Thanks to my superb experience in the design team, I improved my skills. Thanks again to our members and fellow readers!
Jiseung Hong 30
Hello everyone! Since I’ve only been designing, this is my very first but the last writing. It was such a pleasure to meet awesome seniors and juniors in The Blue Vanguard. I wish its reputation continues in the future!
THE BLUE VANGUARD
Seungjin Lee
Jihoon Jung
EDITOR’S NOTE Looking back on the days when numerous people had died because of various kinds of diseases, such as influenza, which can be easily cured nowadays, the field of Pharmacy has been rapidly and phenomenally growing. In order to keep up with the times, we, as pharmacy school students and reporters or designers at the same time, should keep questioning ourselves about how we can contribute to the advancement of science and technology and apply them to practical use. Also, it is our duty to keep informing people of basic but accurate pharmaceutical knowledge. This is a part of the reason why The Blue Vanguardians put every effort into publishing a better magazine every semester. In the 11th edition of The Blue Vanguard, we dealt with various pharmaceutical issues, interviewed pharmaceutical professionals, and introduced our campus life at Yonsei. We would ike to express gratitude to our advertisers Paul Lee of Gilead Science Korea, Jonghyuk Sung of Stemore, in addition to our supporters Prof. Gyoonhee Han and Prof. Jinhyun Jeong. Photo cedited by Yeonwoo Sai
Yoonju Jang
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]
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