The Blue Vanguard Vol.4

Yonsei Student Pharmacist

THE

BLUE

VANGUARD 2013

October

Vol. 4 04 INTERNATIONAL ISSUES Natural Drug Products of South Korea 15 COVER STORY The Drug Prescribing and Dispensing Separation Policy 22 CAMPUS ISSUES Class Favorite for Most Attractive

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Editor’s note GaYeong Heo The Blue Vanguard is published once a semester

by Yonsei Pharmacy Students.

The 4th issue was published on Oct 2013.

Editor-In-Chief GaYeong Heo Vice Editor-In-Chief GyeHee Yi Jornalists Seniors Juniors SeolKyung Kim HoSung Jang OnYoo Kang YoonKyung Heo YongJung Jang ByungHoon Lee HaRin Lee AhYoung Kim HyunMi Yoon YooJin Choi JaiYoung Cheon Eunnie Kim Designed by The Blue Vanguard English Advisors Sangeun Eunice Lee (YIC CETS) Chanhee Kim (YIC CETS) Prof. Roy Brulew Prof. Sharman Horwood Sponsered by Seoul Pharma Daewoong Pharmaceutical Yuhan Coporation Editorial Office Room#30, Floor B1, Underwood Memorial Library, International Campus of Yonsei University, Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon city, Republic of Korea

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We are excited to introduce the fourth issue of The Blue Vanguard. For the past six months, The Blue Vanguard agonized about which direction we wanted to take in the future.

First, we wanted to be a representative magazine for all the pharmacy students of Korea. We sent the third volume of The Blue Vanguard to 34 colleges of pharmacy in Korea, and we gathered subscriptions from pharmacy students via email.

Many pharmacy students signed up for a subscription and also sent encouraging messages. We would like to take a moment to express our appreciation to our readers, cheering us on. For the non-subscribers who want to read The Blue Vanguard every semester, please send an email with your name, university, and student number to bluevanguard@naver.com.

Secondly, we had to deal with financial issues that changed the way The Blue Vanguard was going to be published. Our main source of income is funded by pharmaceutical companies, but we needed to make some changes. In short, we reduced the number of hard copies printed, and newly started the online version of The Blue Vanguard.

Third, we made a few changes to the contents, so it would be more focused on students. We newly created a section where other universities will be intoduced in the campus issue section.

Additionally, the other sections in this magazine will give you high quality information about social issues pertinent to the pharmaceutical field.

We have newly created a website where we will upload our citations for the articles, for those who are interested. Also, The Blue Vanguard always welcomes feedback. You can leave us your comments and questions on our website, cafe.naver.com/ bluevanguard.

Last, as editor-in-chief of The Blue Vanguard, I would like to thank all our readers and contributors for their support and attention. We would also like to express our gratitude to our sponsors, Seoul Pharma, Daewoong Pharmaceutical and Yuhan Coporation.

GaYeong Heo

Contents 04 Editor’s Column 06 Interational Issue Focus on China in the Medical Tour Market 08 International Issue Need Medicine? Then Click on an Online Pharmacy!

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4 10 International Issue Natural Drug Products of South Korea 13 National Issue Tips on Medication Counseling

14 18 25 30 34 37

14 National Issue Useless Medicines, Bring Them to Pharmacies!

16 National Issue Animal Pharmacy: New Sensation in the City!

18 Cover Story Long, LongㅎFight Starts Again: The Drug Prescribing and Dispensing Separation policy 22 People An Interview with Hee Mok Won

25 Global Network Meet a Friend on the Street - 4th stop, LONDON 28 Campus Issue Class Favorite for Most Attractive

30 Campus Issue Voices from the Field of Practical Training 32 Professor’s Interview A Man who Loves Pharmaceutical Chemistry

34 Column Anti-Obesity Drug-A to Z 36 Health Collagen, the Solve-all for Youthful Looks?

37 Book & Documentary Review The Essential Book & Documentary for Pharmacy Student 38 Epilogue 39 Feedback 2013 VOL.4

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INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

Focus On China

The Medical Tour Market Ha Rin Lee hrlee102@yonsei.ac.kr

What is a medical tourism?

A medical tourism refers to a trip that someone takes for health related reasons. In this trip, people usually go

sightseeing and experience the region’s culture along with health caring. In other words, medical tour has two characters, treatment and sightseeing.

Why do people take medical tour?

There are difference in medical resource and medical services price among countries. Due to this, some go on

a medical tour for competitive price of medical services and another go for high-quality medical services.

As globalization advances, it has become easier than the past to use medical services in another countries. Actually, it is not difficult to see the foreigners who come Korea for the purpose of using medical services. In the early stage of medical tour boom, people in developed countries were major consumers of medical tour market. However, thanks to their rise in income level and having more money to spend, Chinese have began to emerge as a new big consumer. Also as well as being consumers, the Chinese receive attention as suppliers of medical tour. China has a long history of oriental medicine and also have accepted many techniques of medical treatment from developed countries. Therefore, some expect that China will be able to become a big supplier of medical tour market. In this

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article, we will focus on China as a supplier and consumer of medical tour.

How has china become to emerge in medical tour market? Firstly, China is making a great advance in economy in a short period of time. This had led to improvement of living standards and increased interests in health problems.

Spontaneously, many Chinese grew interested in medical tour. Secondly, Chinese unsatisfying medical care system lead Chinese to medical tour. China provides basic health care for people, but the quality is not high, making many rich Chinese want to go on a medical tour for more advanced medical service. The quality is not the only problem. Chinese medical care system is managed by unit of shi(Chinese administration unit). Therefore, Chinese can

INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

use the medical services properly in only their residence.

For example, a person who takes a trip to another shi may be face with a trouble to get full benefit from the region’s medical care system although he or she is a Chinese. If you think about these limits of quality and region, it is no wonder why Chinese get interested in going abroad to use medical services.

Then how about the present condition of medical tour for Chinese? In order to attract Chinese customers, many countries are taking several actions. Korea, the United States, and Japan have loosen the procedure of visa issuing, and are issuing a medical visa. Taiwan also looks eager to attract Chinese customers. Some medical centers in Taiwan have developed a medical-beauty tourism services for the Chinese customers. They think that it has a bright prospects because they can provide medical services with relatively low price and Taiwan also uses Chinese language.

Likewise, Korea is trying to attract Chinese customers.

Many Korea’s medical centers employ Chinese interpreters or prepare guide books written in Chinese to provide more detailed information and convenience for Chinese customers. Thanks to these efforts, Korea government issued medical visa for 1073 Chinese in 2011. This is fully 386% increased figure of 2010! Chinese come to Korea mainly for plastic surgeries and medical examination. The average expense of plastic surgeries is about 6,300,000won and the average expense of medical examination is about 2,500,000won. If you consider the number of total Chinese medical tourist, you could see that Chinese medical tourist spends a lot of money.

Now, let’s look at another view on China as a supplier of medical tour market. Hainan shi and Shanghai each con-

structed an international medical complex and provide its own unique medical service, for example, Chinese medicine, Chinese massage and acupuncture. Beijing presents a special product, the Chinese medical healing tourism. And some big hospitals in Beijing also beginning to enter the international medical tour market with competitive price and up-to-date facilities.

In spite of these efforts, there are some problems. Although China is trying to develop their unique medical services in these days, the most medical tourism goods in China focused on just medical examination and beauty treatment for the moment. These kinds of medical services usually lack of depth and have a limit to attract many customers in the long run. Also, the medical tour related regulation is not prepared yet. If a medical tour related trouble occurs, Chinese Government may be not able to manage the problem properly.

China is growing fast in medical tour market as a big supplier and big consumer. This is causing a change in the dynamics of the medical tour market. It can affect Korea both in a good way and a bad way. It is good to Korea in view of a tremendous amount of Chinese customer.(The major consumer of Korea medical tour is China.) However, it is bad to Korea in view of possibility of losing latent customers. Korea and China are geographically close and China is preparing a very big international medical complex which will make China a greatly intimidating competitor. Korea need to cope with this change wisely. If Korea develops specialized services more and characterize goods different from China, Korea could gain a competitive advantage in medical tour market. B

Homepage of Gangnam-gu medical tour ‘http://medicaltour.gangnam.go.kr/jsp/en/index.jsp’

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INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

Need Medicine?

Then Click on an Online Pharmacy!

Hyung Mi Yoon hmyoon@yonsei.ac.kr

Online Pharmacies in UK 1. Pharmacy2U (pharmacy2u.co.uk) 2. Health Express (healthexpress.co.uk) 3. Garden Pharamacy (garden.co.uk) 4. Lloyds Pharmacy (onlinedoctor.lloydspharmacy.com) 5. FirstMed Consultancy (firstmed.co.uk) 6. Medicdirect (medicdirect.co.uk) 7. Express Chemist (expresschemist.co.uk) 8. My Pharmacist (mypharmacist.co.uk) 9. infoHealth(infohealth.co.uk) 10. Online Pharmacy UK (on-linepharmacyuk.com) Research by uknetguide.co.uk

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Online Pharmacy Getting Bigger!

Anyone with an easily accessible email address will be used to receiving emails with titles such as “Cheap Viagra!” and “POWERFUL LEGAL STEROIDS”. Such drug advertisements through emails is likely to appear more frequently in United Kingdom and Germany, which allow the selling of over-the-counter(OTC) drugs and prescription-only medicines through online retail shops. On this situation, we know that buying and selling OTC drugs and prescription drugs online is clearly a big business. Furthermore, it is known that Japan opened the online market for the entire OTC drugs (included high-risk drugs and new drugs) this May, and Pfizer, an American multinational pharmaceutical corporation, allowed the online selling of its best-selling product ‘Viagra’. With the growth of online pharmacy market, and with the new attempts of several countries related to this growth, it is meaningful to take a closer look at some websites of United Kingdom, which started the online pharmacy from 2000.

INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

How the Online Pharmacies Approaches to Selling Prescription Drugs?

In the UK, there are two representative online pharmacies that handle the prescription-only medicines; Pharmacy2U.co.uk and HealthExpress.co.uk. Pharmacy2U, founded in 1999, is the first online mail-order pharmacy in the UK. ‘Mail-order pharmacy’ means that, by the system of electronic transfer of prescription pilot, patients request prescriptions electronically and these prescriptions are transmitted directly from General Practitioners (GP) to Pharmacy2U. Finally patients are able to receive medicines by post, instead of having to do an in-person pick-up.

This system specifically involves only electronic re-ordering and not first-instance prescriptions. Pharmacy2U also operates its automated reminder systems to give notice of when patient’s next medicines may be required.

The other company, HealthExpress, does not require customers to get a prescription from their GPs. Instead, customers have to fill in an online medical questionnaire, which will be reviewed by a doctor of the HealthExpress.

In this case, doctor’s prescriptions are solely relied on questionnaire of patient and pharmacists dispensed drugs based on those prescriptions. The advantage of this service is that it makes patients to become honest and courageous, who might be embarrassed to go to their GP concerning sensitive medical matters. Of course, patients might not give correct answer on their consultation form, but since the embarrassment factor is heavily reduced, patient is probably less likely to give wrong answer about their symptoms on the net than in the real-time consultation.

What Regulations Are in Place for Online Prescriptions?

Online pharmacies, dispatching the prescription drugs in aforementioned ways, should abide by certain regulations. The first thing online pharmacies have to follow is that pharmacy business should be under the supervision of a pharmacists. Furthermore, there should be no advertising to the general public of prescription-only products. On the other hand, the customers should be provided with reliable information on the medicinal drugs they would like to purchase. It means that online pharmacies should find the sensitive boundary between the information they should give to customers and the information that could be regarded as advertisement so that they shouldn’t give to the customers.

Lastly, online pharmacies have a duty of confidentiality, so they have to establish an effective information security system.

How to Strengthen Advantages of Online Pharmacy Nonetheless, online pharmacy has its downsides. There are still many illegal websites, and in such an environment, legitimate online pharmacies have to work around the clock to convince consumers of their validity. For high-street pharmacies, online pharmacies threaten them in terms of better price and accessibility. But it gives consumers greater choice in finding the cheapest options on the market, and protects the consumers from feeling embarrassed by opening their medical issues face-to-face and offers the consumers service of convenience as saving time to get a prescription from their GPs. To continue capitalizing these advantages of online pharmacy, online pharmacy should be combined with the high-street outlet to help people understand that is a registered website, and also to revitalize high-street outlet’s management by gain the new route of selling. In the mean time, patients have to be educated about how to classify illegitimate and legitimate sites and how to perform routine checks to discover more about a particular web site or company. B 2013 VOL.4

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INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

Natural Drugs Exploring the Business Potential of South Korea in the Global Market Gye Hee Yi

gyehee@yonsei.ac.kr

What is a Natural Drug? It is an extract from single/multiple botanicals for use in diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease. It is clinically validated and contain standardized phytochemical mixtures.

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Glanc e A t T he P resen t S t at us O f G l o b a l Botani c al Drug M ark e t

â–˛ World Market for Botanical medicine(in US $Billion)

With a growing average lifespan of the population and lifestyle changes raised the number of complex diseases and chronic illnesses. Accordingly, an attitude towards health care changed from cure to prevention, which highlighted the importance of industrialization of natural drugs. It is being more emphasized by increasing the needs of millions of people worldwide. Overall, herbal medicines provide primary health care needs to almost 65-85% of the world’s population. In accordance with their needs, the number of plant-derived drugs and their market sizes are constantly growing, and this trend has been continuing since the first approval of botanical drugs passed the FDA. In terms of economic value, the global botanical and plant-derived drug market was valued at $21.4 billion in 2011 and reached $22.1 billion in 2012. Total market value is expected to reach $26.6 billion in 2017 after increas-

ing at a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7%. An annual growth rate of 7% is relatively high in value, as it is even bigger than the global GDP annual growth rate.

Looking at traditional therapies, they contribute to $60 billion a year, and the USA alone spends $2.7 billion per year followed by China with $1.8 billion and Australia with $1 billion a year. According to the research conducted by Korean Bio Association in 2010, with one successful natural product drug, trillions of Wons in sales every year, and 20~50% of net profit on sales are possible. This is why we call the natural drug indsutry, a high value-added business, with relatively high investment efficiency.

Looking at some famous examples, Bristol-Myers Squib(BMS) successfully developed anti-cancer â–˛ Taxol agent, paclitaxel (taxol) from a pacific yew, taxus brevifolia, and achieved the annual sales of over $1.2 billion. Teprotide (Captopril) was isolated from the venom of the pit viper, which is currently used by millions of people to control hypertension with worldwide annual sales in excess of $2 billion.

Thus there is no doubt that developed countries would have long been interested in this high-return rate business.

Recently their efforts are paid to securing a variety of natural resources, evaluating their economic value of utility and to re-establishing the quality control system.

INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

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hen Why Are Botanical Drugs Increasingly Becoming More Popular?

In fact, traditional medicine is gaining popularity worldwide and this is attributable to the following salient features: First of all, it is a holistic system with less side effects as opposed to allopathic drugs. Since patients with chronic diseases take many doses over long periods; safety is of great concern to them. Therefore some may resist taking chemically synthesized drugs. The fact that the use of natural products as ingredients makes consumers feel comfortable when taking their pills. History of herbal medicine usage for thousandsof-years demonstrates its safety. Secondly, despite the remarkable developments in pharmaceutical care, of the known 30,000 human diseases or disorders, only one-third can somehow be treated symptomatically with drugs and that too at a great economic and social cost. They are incurable and often fatal, causing great suffering and disability. However, the drugs available today are still not very effective particularly with respect to the fight against drug resistant pathogens, and newly emerging infections as well as other chronic diseases, so there is an urgent need for drugs that are effective against these pathogens.

At this moment, people anticipate that traditional medicines might provide a solution in fighting them both as a health care delivery mechanism and as a means of chemotherapeutic pool. Botanical drugs, supported by long clinical use with properly recorded pharmacopoeias by the scientific validation processes, have become generally known to public since its development process evolved into evidence-based research.

Nevertheless, the main ingredients used in traditional medicines are natural products that are rich in structurally diverse bioactive molecules and so quite often become potential candidates for new medicinal drugs. These molecules are often valid remedies to treat complex symptoms. That is to say, their multi-functional, multi-targeting features could effectively work on complex etiology.

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r ospec t s of Over se as E x p ansi o n

Currently in Korea, the top 3 domestic pharmaceuticals account for only 4% of domestic market share, while the rest is being occupied by imported drugs. Technical lead is already firmly preempted by developed countries and also the limitations of structural diversity make it less likely to succeed on the development of new synthetic drugs. However Korea

enjoys a comparative advantage in terms of experiences and accumulated knowledge in dealing with botanical drugs.

In fact, Donga Pharm has advanced to the front line with a natural drug, Stillen, a gastrointestinal treatment, recorded the prescription of 83.5billion Won in 2009, getting listed as a blockbuster drug. Joins Tab., an arthritis treatment, of SK chemical was also cited as an example of a successfully commercialized natural product, as it turned over 25billion Won in the same year. However their sales are usually localized to the country, though these drugs can be competitive in the global market. Recently these pharmaceutical companies spur their

▲ Stillen

▲Joins Tab.

expansions targeting the overseas market such as China.

An official from Donga Pharm said, “In the past, the challenge took so long, but the potential is so huge that domestic drug makers should make use of elaborate and strategic approach. For the successful entry into the Chinese market, localization strategy and government support is pivotal. ” He added, “Entry into Chinese market by domestic drug makers armed with competitive edge in natural drug production will be the short cut to globalization of the firms. ” Thus, Korean administrations suggested a medical industry as one of the four new leading businesses, in order to foster a higher value-added business from 2001. Since then, an extensive support was promoted for the development of pharmaceutical industry and accordingly the markets of chronic and incurable disease medicines have been rapidly enlarging in Korea. Korea is fortunate to be gifted with rich traditional medical knowledge and experience. Since ethno-medical knowledge is applicable to modern drug discovery programs, the domestic botanical drug industry has a promising future.

However, except that we have a comparative advantage in this knowledge, we are far behind in every other aspect, such as in the technical foundation, development infrastructure, and political aid. Before the entry into the global market, the pharmaceutical industry should make a self-assessment and then 2013 VOL.4

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INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

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W

ith the third enforcement of ‘Natural Drug Research and Development Promotion Act’, its industrialization actively supported by the government. ich traditional medical knowledge and high growth potential of national CRO, CMO xpect highly advanced improvements in GMP facilities by traditional medicine GMP obligation enforcement

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O

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nsatisfactory policy measures of securing biological resources ulnerable GMP production system and Low standard of domestic approval guideline maller scale of CRO, and CMO than other international companies, so available range is limited. ack of experience in overseas approval of botanical drug

SWOT analysis of Korean Botanical Drug Industry

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onstant growth of botanical drug market and Less adverse effects than synthetic drugs. ging society, increasing frequencies of chronic and complex diseases hanging social attitudes of health care from cure to prevention

plan a strategic approach using SWOT analysis. In order to overcome its weaknesses, the following efforts are suggested.

The efficacy and components of natural drugs are extremely dependent on the quality of the materials. Therefore a strict management plan and its full standardization are pivotal.

However the systems of management in Korea leave much to be desired. Full standardization of botanical drugs is possible only when the following four points are estabilished. ; 1) “Seed-to-pill” and “batch-to-batch” standardization , 2) the major bioactive constituents are known as well as the range of their allowable fluctuations. 3) The characterization and standardization of potentially hazardous compounds, 4) the functional standardization, based on the direct measurement of biological activity and toxicity in different batches.

Nevertheless, most of the domestic companies do not have proper systems for GMP material production, and even if they have one, there are striking contrasts between firms which may cause an inefficient production. Therefore if they are going to keep up with research in botanical drug production, they will have to cooperate to produce a standard GMP guideline, and to observe or redeem the current GMP Enforcement Act of traditional medicine.

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enefit share of biodiversity and oil resources between countries make their competition for resources more severe. ack of convention on international agreement of hazardous botanical substances. oreign CRO, CMO companies are leading the current market umerous competitors including China and the U.S.A

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The potential of domestic natural drug is infinite and its worldwide expansions will be accelerated, yet their market shares of CRO and CMO are weak, as well as their technical level. Professionals in the field claimed that the development, approval and quality control systems of botanical drugs are not systemically organized anywhere in the world, so whoever is among the first to establish these systems will gain initiative.

Domestic companies should enter into a technical partnership with other major leading CMO and CRO companies for the securing of technical foundation and infrastructure. Guidelines of approval and regulation of leading countries should be studied and applications of actual analysis should be carried out to ensure an international position of domestic CMO and CRO firms. Based upon the ‘Natural Drug Research & Development Enhancement Act’, company-industry-academic cooperation is necessary.

Commercializing Korean traditional medical knowledge would not only accelerate Korea’s economic growth, but also contribute to the global stock of pharmaceuticals. Korean natural drugs have lots of potential in terms of the provision of the primary health care as well as in the discovery of new drugs if strategically managed and developed, considering the innate intellectual property rights. B

NATIONAL ISSUE

TIPS ON MEDICATION COUNSELING Ha Rin Lee hrlee102@yonsei.ac.kr What are the activities that can be regarded as the most

important tasks that pharmacists do at a pharmacy? Many

people may say that it would be medication counseling session. Last year, Korea government allowed supermarkets to handle some types of medicinal drugs. Also, online

pharmacy is expanding exponentially in recent years. With

these situations, many pharmacists think that their own functions are being threatened. And many pharmacists are making a louder voice to focus on their basic duty more

faithfully at a time like this. In this article, we will look into several tips on medication counseling.

Record the medication counseling!

Although pharmacists are educated to conduct medication counseling, it is difficult to put their theory into practice. In order to overcome this problem, a pharmacist in Busan recommended counseling recording. If pharmacists record the counseling and listen to it after finishing the consultation, he or she could catch the point that should be practiced more and enhance the skill of medication counseling. For example, the pharmacist can enhance the ability in delivering key points without unnecessary comments.

Try medication counseling in a fixed time slot!

Frankly, many pharmacists are usually running out of time so they tend to explain about medicines rather shortly.

Also, it is not easy for patients to ask additional questions because most pharmacists seem to be too busy to make additional time to answer those questions. However, what if the counseling time is set? A pharmacy in Busan set a rule of having the counseling time fixed. In this pharmacy, pharmacists started a timer as they began counseling. Even though the counseling finished, if the timer hasn’t rung, the pharmacist cannot end the consultation. Due to this rule, pharmacists and patients have sufficient time to inter-

act thus, pharmacists are able to understand the patient’s health condition and give more adequate advice.

Advice patients read the medicine instructions while they are waiting their turn!

In Korea, patients submit the prescription to pharmacy counter as they get in, and wait for their turn to receive their medicine. A pharmacy in Gangnam, advice patients to read the medicinal instructions before receiving their medicine.

This helps patients to understand their medicine better thus, pharmacist can consult more detailedly.

It

is also important to make proper counseling environment.

If you learn about medication counseling, you would know how important it is to keep the patient’s privacy in medication counseling. A pharmacy in Busan have an attic and uses this as a counseling place. Also, many pharmacies attempt to make separated counseling place by establishing a cubicle. The effort to keep the patient’s privacy is not limited to preparing a proper place. A pharmacy in Gurogu has set up speakers on the ceiling and plays classical music. The music makes the customers who are waiting for their turn unable to listen to other patient’s medication counseling. This pharmacy also provides the medicine bags without the word ‘medicine’. This is because some patients may not want others to know that they are under medication.

In addition, there are some other tips, such as sending daily text messages or providing guidebooks for good dietary life or life habits. However, pharmacists who are renowned for counseling all agree that the passion for caring the patients is the most important aspect. I anticipate that the readers of the blue vanguard keep this advice in mind and become good pharmacists. B 2013 VOL.4

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NATIONAL ISSUE

Useless Medicines,

Bring Them to Pharmacies!

Seol Kyung Kim kimsk90@yonsei.ac.kr Every home keeps several kinds of household medicinal drugs available. Fever reducers and pain killers have been

necessities since ancient time. It is common to buy prescribed drugs that are retained and stored. However, as time goes by, people tend to be confused or forget what kind of medicine they have at home. In the end, they go and buy

more medicine. When this happens many times, useless medicine remains stacked at home. These leftover drugs are thrown away with the trash or flushed down the drain. People do not know how to dispose of unwanted medicine properly. However, it is risky in that medicine is exposed to the ecosystem. Components of medicines do not degrade and remain for a long time, polluting both soil and water. Worst of all, antibiotic-resistant bacteria can develop.

WHAT IS A "USELESS MEDICINES COLLECTION"?

As we have seen above, there are serious problems related to improperly storing and disposing medicine. It is necessary to dispose useless medicinal drugs in the proper place. The Ministry of Environment has implemented a Useless Medicines Collection project. It is prescribed that people should dispose of all useless medicines at a drop box, which is kept in pharmacies or health centers and then those drugs are expected to be disposed properly according to certain procedures. Not all drugs should be disposed, however, people can reuse medicine after consultation with the pharmacists.

In 2008, this project was tested only in Seoul. After a year, in 2009, it

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extended to major cities. It has been implemented throughout the whole country for 4 years since 2010. Even if enforced nationally, without many people's participation, the project

will be ineffective. For this reason, a great deal of concerns and efforts are definitely required to solve the problems.

< Expiration date / Keeping method > Syrup / Powder

2 years / Room temperature

Antibiotic syrup

1 week / Cold storage

Ointment

2 years / Room temperature

Nutritional supplement

3 years / Room temperature

NATIONAL ISSUE

WHAT IS THE REALITY? Three years have passed since the project has been put into action.

inflammable medicines have to be separated, but in reality it has proven to be difficult to do that. Syrup, which leaked out of zipper bags, caused pollution. Keeping useless

Though the amount of collection seems to increase, the participation rate is still low.

ZEROWASTE which is a social solidarity conducted a survey, evaluating the project, with 3192 citizens.

The result shows that the recognition of the project is extended, but only 2% of citizens bring useless medicines to pharmacies.

PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS Several problems have emerged during the past 3 years. An overall lack of citizenship, as well as low levels of awareness concerning the project, has caused this poor participation rate. Flammable and

medicine for a long time led to space insufficiency at pharmacy.

For the practice's effectiveness, promotion must be initiated. Above all, pharmacists have to be aware of pollution caused by medicine and

take active part in these projects.

They should place drop boxes in a visible location and inform visitors about the collection program.

Inserting informative phrases onto the medicine packet or putting up a poster can be effective methods. People can also use smartphone application which reminds them of expired medicines. Promotion through both the media and broadcasting is necessary. In addition, the policy should be made into a law.

Frankly, bringing useless medicines to pharmacies might be troublesome for both citizens and pharmacists.

H o w e v e r, u n l e s s t h e s e medicines are discarded in the right place, they are going to threaten our health and ecosystem.

Preparing a green growth era, the Blue Vanguards anticipate that useless medicines collection is going to be fixed at pharmacies as an important role. B

If you do not want to produce useless medicines, following this way.

1. Do not discontinue prescribed medicines as your own will.

2. Keep prescriptions or a list of prescribed medicines. If you are aware of drugs you take, you can prevent of medication overlap and not using drugs owing to ignorance.

3. Keep insert papers of over-the-counter drugs.

4. Ask pharmacists of unknown drugs. Take medicines which can be taken or put them in a drop box.

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NATIONAL ISSUE

Animal Pharmacy : New Sensation in The City!

Hyung Mi Yoon hmyoon@yonsei.ac.kr

New Law on Animal Medicine

Since Aug. 2 2013, the revised law on animal medicine had taken effect. For previous law, customers were able to

buy animal medicine without veterinarian’s prescription. However, this changed law required customers, especially livestock breeders, to have a vet’s prescription to purchase specific drugs for their animals from drugstores. The Min-

istry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural affairs (MAFA) stressed that the driving force behind the changed law was for the

protection of human health. By preventing overuse of animal medicine such as antibiotics, the ministry looks for the effects of blocking the animal-to-human transmissions of drug-resistance bacteria and drug substances. The revised

law was aplied to 15 percent of all animal drug products circulating in the market, including antibiotics, hormones, vaccines, and narcotic products.

Boom for Animal Pharmacy -WHY?

These days, there’s a new boom in Animal Pharmacy in Korea. The number of pharmacies that deal with animal-related drugs is increasing exponentially. What is the driving force behind this new phenomenon?

There has been an economic depression among pharmacists, who now had to look for other areas where they can take on a new challenge. Contemporarily, there has been an issue rising about animal medicine, which is explained in detail above. As the awareness of animal medicine increased, pharmacists began to think of animal

pharmacy as a way to revive economically. By the ripple effect, they can strengthen their role as a pharmacist since dispense of animal medicine is included in the area of professional ability of pharmacists legally, which is the fact that hasn’t been recognized broadly by commoners.

NATIONAL ISSUE

Differences between Korea and Other Countries

Pharmacists remained indifferent to the area of animal pharmacy so far. This has brought about the huge gap between Korea and the countries where pharmacists have, for a long time, dealt with the animal medicine.

In the countries such as the United States, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, veterinarians and pharmacists both hold the key in marketing animal medicine. In these countries, the term veterinary pharmacist is quite common. Most veterinary pharmacists work for a veterinarian at an animal hospital or work solely at a veterinary pharmacy, which may be online or local.

However, vets and pharmacists cooperating with each other is surprisingly unusual in Korea, where the dispensing of medicine for companion animals is still mostly in the vet’s scope of practice. Furthermore the term such as veterinary pharmacist is uncommon for Korean because before the current boom for animal pharmacy, the number of it is really small.

Actually, even animal pharmacies, which have currently opened, handle

medicines majorly for human and partially for animals. Therefore, in Korean, we do not particularly differentiate veterinary pharmacist from ordinary pharmacists. This huge gap between Korea and other countries shows how much progress Korean pharmacists need to make.

veterinary hospitals, pharmacies cannot be prepared for even fundamental drugs such as vaccine. This difficulty shows how unconcerned pharmacists have been about animal medicine until now.

On-going Efforts The Problem That Must Be Overcome

Pharmacists, who started a new business on animal medicine, are facing a new problem. Animal drug producers have announced they will supply drugs only to veterinary hospitals.

Their professed reason is that pharmacists lack professional knowledge about animals. However, pharmacists are not the ones to be blamed solely for the production issue of animal drugs. There seems to be other reason why drug producers do not sell products to the pharmacists. It seems like drug producers are unwilling to give drugs to local pharmacies because it is the vet who prescribes the medicine, which directly links to the drug sales of pharmaceutical companies. Because of this unfair and clandestine alliance between drug producers and

The Korean Pharmaceutical Association (KPA) plans to file The Fair Trade Commission against the drug producers, who denied the supply of drugs to pharmacies. In addition, KPA made a promotional poster for animal pharmacy to inform people about it.

The professional education course for animal medicine such as the American College of Veterinary Pharmacist (ACVP) in the United States is also needed to build up trust for pharmacists.

Dispensing animal drugs could be an integral part of a pharmacists’ role.

Pharmacists and the KPA have to make effort to ensure this boom will not be limited to a temporary phenomenon.

Remember, this is not for expanding the pharmacist’s professional ability but for restoring, because dispensing the animal medicine is already included in pharmacists’ role. B

COVER STORY

Long, Long Fight Starts Again Will There be a Change to The cureent Drug Prescribing and Dispensing Separation policy?

Yong Jung Jang yjjang323@yonsei.ac.kr

Medicine Sup ply-Cla Disagreemen im t

Physicians

Money

Drug Dispencing

Pharmacists

Butterfly effect:

It means that a small change at one place could result in a huge difference at a later state. A document investigation on the medicine supply-claim history disa-

greement (supply- claim disagreement) carried out by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) created this butterfly effect. Supply-claim disa-

greement means that the list of medicine delivered into a pharmacy by a wholesale dealer or a pharmaceutical company is different from that of the claim-

ing specification made by that pharmacy. Whether the supply and claim match is considered to be important because related parties can take illegal prof-

its through it. The term illegal profit is the essential part. Holding that as an excuse, the Korean Medical

Association has brought up a huge argument on to the surface, Drug Prescribing and Dispensing Separa-

tion policy (Separation policy). The fight has begun.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

COVER STORY

S

ince the beginning of HIRA’s

supply-claim disagreement investigation, the Korean Pharmaceutical Association (KPA) complained about inappropriate factors of the investigation, saying that it did not apply to the current situation of pharmacies. However, HIRA pushed ahead and in the end announced the shocking result indicating that eighty percent of the investigation target has committed supply-claim disagreement. Outraged, KPA has emphasized once again on the factors they had been refuting to be wrong and those factors led many pharmacies to look like they committed supply-claim disagreement. HIRA finally admitted their mistake and adjusted the investigation target to announce a modified result. However, it was too late. Korean Medical Association (KMA) has already seized an appealing excuse and started to conclude that these wrong investigation to be evidence that a wide-ranging illegal alternative dispensing system exists among pharmacists. Under this view, KMA is now vigorously insisting on changing the present Separation Policy to Selective Drug Prescribing and Dispensing Separation Policy (Selective Separation Policy) in order to uproot illegal alternative dispensing and other problems that they think

*Left: Chan Whee Cho, chairman of KPA Right: Hwan Gue No, chairman of KMA (Copyright: Healthkoreanews.inc)

originate from the Separation Policy.

The Separation Policy applies to every citizen in Korea. Therefore, public opinion must be suhstantially considered in order to change the policy and it is important to look at the matters honestly. Thus, let’s find out whether the base that is set forth by KMA is suitable and whether Selective Separation Policy is a fit alternative policy for the Separation policy.

Medicine supply-claim disagreement = Medicine swapping?

The Supply-Claim disagreement case is the starting point and basis of the argument made by KMA to claim the rightfulness of the Selective Separation policy’s enforcement. In order to explain the disagreement of supply and claim of medicine, it means that in one pharmacy, the number of products

received is different to that of the number claimed to the health insurance administration. The auditor judged this difference would raise the possibility that there might be a difference in the medicine price charged to the health insurance. Furthermore, they interpreted that this could possibly be due to ‘medicine swapping,’ which is differently claiming from what pharmacies have actually dispensed in order to “rake off” the margin. Hwan Gue No, chairman of KMA, terminated that the supply-claim disagreement indicates ‘medicine swapping’ and said, “This proves that arbitrary dispensing and illegal alternative dispensing is rife. This is a case that threatens the base of the Separation policy.”

However, can we be so sure that this supply-claim disagreement really is due to arbitrary dispensing and illegal alternative dispensing?

Drug Prescribing and Dispensing Separation policy This policy allows doctors to only write prescriptions to patients and pharmacists to only dispense prescriptions as written. Outpatients cannot get a prescription dispensed or adjusted in a medical institution. They have to take it to a pharmacy outside the medical institution. Doctors can prescribe medicinal drugs by nonproprietary names or proprietary names. If necessary, pharmacists can change the drug to another one that has the same ingredient, content, and dosage form, even if the prescription states the proprietary name; however, they must get the patient’s agreement and later inform to the doctor who prescribed it.

This change is called alternative dispensing.

Selective Drug Prescribing and Dispensing Separation policy It is a policy that allows medical institutions to dispense prescriptions and allow the patients to choose whether to dispense the prescription at a medical institution or a pharmacy. Taiwan is a typical example of a country which carries out a Selective Separation Policy.

Illegal alternative dispensing Pharmacists change prescriptions without informing the doctor who prescribed it.

Arbitrary dispensing Pharmacists selling prescription-only-drugs (POM) without a doctor’s prescription.

2013 VOL.4

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COVER STORY

The announcement indicating that 80% of the target pharmacies have committed supply-claim disagreement is incorrect information brought on by inaccurate data and excessive generalization. First, the percentage, 80%, indicating the fraction of pharmacies that has disagreement in supply and claim is highly exaggerated. As mentioned earlier, KPA has pointed out that there are multiple unknown factors that will lead to mistakes in the document investigation and unintended disagreement. The problem was that the database of the medicine supply history used for data-mining1 was inadequate and inaccurate. Medicine stocks before 2008 were left out and the inaccurate report of medicine supply companies have not been considered. The biggest problem was that the trading between pharmacies has not been acknowledged. (Trading between pharmacies is allowed by course of the pharmaceutical affairs law and is performed according to custom.)

Since the supply data was believed to be incorrect, it was invevitable for many pharmacies to have a difference in the supply-claim amount. In the end, HIRA accepted KPA’s comments

and cleared the charges against almost 70% of the pharmacies previously charged for disagreement. However, KMA is not willing to accept this modified result, and by extension, is implicating KPA for lobbying the HIRA. Whether KMA accepts it or not, this recent result indicates that it is hard to say that arbitrary dispensing and illegal alternative dispensing is “riffing” among pharmacies.

KMA is trustworthy and many people do prefer Selective Separation policy.

According to the survey, the majority wanted to get their medicine at medical institutes because it was cumbersome go to a pharmacy after visiting a hospital. Nevertheless, to push ahead with the Selective Separation policy just to ease the trouble, this policy has many dangers and limitations.

First of all, the division of the specialties between the two professions will be weakened ,which will lead to lax safety protocol observance. The main purpose of the Selective policy is to implement mutual checking of prescriptions and supervision of drug administration to avoid overlapping.

These are things that can be done only when the prescription, written by the doctor, comes directly to the pharmacist’s hands. If the policy is changed to the Selective Separation policy, inadequate prescriptions will have no safety net to cross and will be dispensed directly to the patient. Besides this, the withdrawal of the patient’s right-to-know and the increases in rebates are the typical problems which will be introduced by the Selective Separation policy.

“Is this what the patients wants?”

The second argument used by KMA to advocate this Selective Separation policy is that many people want to get their medicine dispensed at a medical institute. The KMA reports that according to a survey they had conducted in 2010, about 60% of the responders found the separation policy to be inconvenient. However, the survey questions were very biased, and it was eventually reviewed as a poor survey. The current KPA have also conducted a survey, resulting in a totally opposite direction, (80% of the responders replied that they support Separation policy) but KMA criticized them back just the same. Let’s just assume that the survey conducted by 1 data mining: A process used to find a useful correlation among a large number of data, extracting data practical for future use, then using it for decision making.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

COVER STORY

The right method to uproot arbitrary dispensing and illegal alternative dispensing?

The KMP is claiming Selective Separation policy as the ideal method to wipeout Separation policy’s troubles: collusion between medical institutes and pharmacies, arbitrary dispensing and illegal alternative dispensing. However, it seems that the Selective Separation is not the key.

According to a report, ‘Study for the evaluation of Separation policy and to seek improvements’, presented by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA)2 in 2008, “Even if Selective Separation policy is taken, collusions between medical institutes and pharmacies, which is done by intentionally performing alternative dispensing and sharing the incentives, are likely to exist.” Furthermore, they stated, “illegal actions such as arbitrary dispensing will probably still exist and might even increase due to Selective Separation policy. As a resistance to the permission of dispensing to doctors, pharmacists might demand the permission of medical examination while selling OTC (overthe-counter) drugs and this could lead to the possibility of the rise of arbitrary dispensing,” and hinted that the stated Selective Separation policy cannot be the answer to the Separation policy problems.

Currently, most countries pursue Separation policy. Among them, most have naturally separated prescribing and dispensing according to old custom and considers it to be natural. In contrast, East Asian countries were used to doctors dispensing and pharmacists prescribing, opposite of what is normal, because the idea ‘medical practice=medication’ originating from a traditional medical concept , which was so dominant. However, now that both medical science and pharmacology have widely expanded, they both cover a tremendous territory that requires professionalism. Hence, it will be suitable for each side to take responsibility for one’s profession as first place, where they are most good at. Old customs are hard to overcome and are leading to make problems even after the Separation policy has been enforced. Going back to the way it was, however, is not the solution for

this problem. The Separation policy problem must be solved by providing an institutional strategy while maintaining the separation. The current Separation policy is mainly made of punishments, forcing the participating parties to obey the policy, and keeping an eye on each other to make sure the other side is obeying. It means that the policy itself is making the doctors and pharmacists fight against each other rather than inducing cooperation to produce a better outcome. Can’t the policy be modified, in order to help these two valuable resources cooperate? Doctors and pharmacists share a common responsibility, the welfare of citizens. While they are trying to hurt one another in order to extend one’s territory, citizens are getting confused and losing faith in doctors and pharmacists. It’s time to stop the turf war and look for ways to cooperate hand in hand. B

Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA): a government research institution analyzing the nation’s health and social issues to establish policies 2

2013 VOL.4

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PEOPLE

an interview with

heemok won Yoo Jin Choi yoojin6a@yonsei.ac.kr Seol Kyung Kim kimsk90@yonsei.ac.kr

Scholarship 1977 Bachelor of pharmacy,

Seoul National Univ 2003 Pharm.D. Gangwon

National University

U

ntil now, there have been only a few pharmacists who have become members of the National Assembly in Korea. Heemok Won was the president of the Korean Pharmaceutical Association (KPA)1 and later became part of the 18th Congress. He did many works which affected pharmacists and national health. He is now the professor of Health Communication at Ewha Womans University. The Blue Vanguard met him on August 28th, and asked him a few questions on behalf of pharmacy students.

1 KPA(Korean Pharmaceutical Association) : an organization that provides various information for promoting health of the people and tries to protect rights and interests of pharmacists.

Career 1979-1981 Researcher at Dong A Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. 1981-2002 Representative of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Won Pharmacyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 1991-1994 President of Gangnam-gu Pharmaceutical Association 1998 Secretary of the Korean Pharmaceutical Association 2004-2008 President of the Korean Pharmaceutical Association 2008-2012 Member of the National Assembly (18th) 2012~ Professor at Ewha Womans University

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

We met him at his professor office. He is now professor at Ewha Womans University, teaching health communication.

What did you do during the time at the KPA and at the National Assembly?

When I was at the KPA, I introduced the Separation of Prescribing and Dispensing Drugs Act as the representative of the association. Before the separation of prescribing and dis-

pensing drugs, pharmacists were able to diagnose patients as doctors. As the number of doctors increased, I thought that the role of pharmacists would become smaller, so I tried to enforce the Separation of Prescribing and Dispensing Drugs Act. After I became the president of KPA, I pushed ahead

PEOPLE

for the ‘Six-Year Curriculum for the Colleges of Pharmacy’. As a member of the National Assembly, I made the ‘Medicine Industry Promoting Law’.

The purpose of this law was to change the pharmaceutical industry from a rebate oriented structure to a research and development oriented structure.

In addition to that, I tried to create solutions for our aging population.

What role can pharmacists play in the political sector?

What strengths would they have to offer?

Pharmacists can deal with affairs having to do with health and medicine by applying our major to help make laws. When I was a member of the National Assembly, the ‘Supermarket Medicine Selling Law’ was enforced.

At that time, I created the law which restricted the range of medicine a supermarket could sell to about twenty different types to minimize the potential side effects of supermarkets selling drugs. Politicians who have majored in pharmacy have the upper hand when it comes to health and

medical care. Although specialties are important in the political world, gaining political power is also important. People who major in science are usually less political and they lack in communication skills. Politics requires you to have the ability to listen to others and to persuade them. I think that if the specialty of pharmacists is combined with communication skills, pharmacists could be competent politicians.

For some policies, the interests of the pharmacists collide with the national opinion or the political ideologies of your party. How do you resolve these situations?

What is your standard of judgment?

While at the KPA, what I always said was; “We have to find the area where the interests of pharmacists and the interests of the public overlaps.

We should not sacrifice the opinion of the general public to pursue our interests.” That was the objective of the association, and I also maintained this idea at the National Assembly. In

He was part of the National Assmebly. This is picture of him at the inspection of the government offices at 2011.

the case of the ‘Supermarket Medicine Selling Law’, 80% of the public wanted medicines to be sold in supermarkets for convenience. It would have negative effects for pharmacists and it could damage the health of the consumers. In the end, politicians and pharmacists had to listen to the public opinion. However, politicians thought a minimum guideline was needed for public health, so they made the law restricting the range of which supermarkets could sell medicine to 20 items.

I think that the political ideologies of the party usually follow the public opinion and that politics is the process of seeking a compromise between the public opinion and the opinion of specialists.

When you worked at the KPA and the National Assembly, what were your feelings about the public perception of pharmacists? And to be good pharmacists, what do we have to do?

“A pharmacist is needed, but not demanded.” This means, people don’t think pharmacists are necessary. Doctors cure people, so almost everyone thinks doctors are needed. On the other hand, as the role of pharmacists is mainly providing information to people, people don’t perceive pharmacists like doctors. To be a good pharmacist, we have to see through the eyes of the public. We have to study harder to satisfy people and have to improve on information packaging and communication skills. Now pharmacists have to take part in pharmaceutical care instead of just handling drugs.

Pharmacists should provide ‘care’ to people through medicine. By doing so, we can create the demand and make the public think that pharmacists are necessary. We cannot make changes 2013 VOL.4

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PEOPLE

on the perception of pharmacists, if we try to see the world only from our view. Why do over 80% of people want supermarkets to sell medicines?

This statistic spreads sense of repulsion to pharmacists. As pharmacists we can say that we had done our jobs and we had tried hard. However, we also have to do our best to satisfy the public. The public attitude of pharmacists will be changed depending on how we conduct ourselves. After all, it will influence the laws and institutions related to pharmacists.

What was your university life like?

I was the student representative of Seoul National University, College of Pharmacy. I never thought to be a student representative, but I was recommended by a high school alumni.

I had run for election on impulse and became the student representative. As a student representative, I learned how to lead a community. In addition, I did almost everything that I wanted to do.

I acted in a play, sang in a chorus, and read many books. I even sold fried foods near Ewha Womans University.

On the top of that, I had four to five part-time jobs, went on blind dates, and participated in political demonstrations. I spent my undergraduate days using up all my energy. However, I was a little neglectful of study.

What’s your life motto?

My life motto is, “Don’t be conceited about your success, and don’t get discouraged when things go wrong.”

There can be danger lurking when I think everything is going well, and I can make a breakthrough when I think everything is spiraling down. Don’t let your guard down when you are doing well, and don’t get frustrated when you are in a bad situation. This is what I

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

always remind myself as I get older.

What is your life purpose now?

Until now, instead of having a big goal, I have done my best in any given situation. When I was working at the KPA, I did my best to pass the Separation of Prescribing and Dispensing Drugs Act and the six year curriculum for the Colleges of Pharmacy. As always, I will do my best in any given situation. These days, I am campaigning to reduce the problems of the aging population. I have thought about this problem seriously since I was at the National Assembly, and I think this problem will later become more serious if we don’t do anything. In addition, I want to make a society where the pharmacists receive respect from the public. “Respect” meaning that the public will think pharmacists is that they are doing their best as experts and working sincerely for the people. During my lifetime, I have put in all my efforts to fulfill this goal, and it is still the same. To achieve the goal, I am now teaching health communication for pharmacists.

Lastly, please give a word of wisdom to current pharmacy students.

Your undergraduate years are the period when you are the most full of energy and you have to use it. I think that life is about consuming, not saving. You can do everything you want to do as an undergraduate. It is an optimal period to do lots of things, and it will greatly influence your life.

Above all, I want to say that studying is most important. Your grades will follow you throughout your lifetime, no matter what you do. I regret that I did not study hard during my time at university. After you study hard, you can

He also wrote two books. This is one of them.

This is a book about his life.

do other things such as learning what you want and taking trips around the world.

A lot of pharmacists struggled to enforce the 6-year-pharmacy education program. From the very moment the 6-year pharmacy program presents its first graduating class, the original 4-year-educated pharmacists will be provided the same opportunities as 6-year-graduate professionals.

So you, 6-year-students, are very important. You have to show that there is a difference between the 4-yeareducated pharmacists and the 6-yeareducated pharmacists through your performance in the field. For that, study hard. I have great expectation from the 6-year-educated students. B

GLOBAL NETWORK

4th Stop:

LONDON

Meet a Friend on the Street

Just Knock and say, “I am a Pharmacy Student!”

Ga Yeong Heo

GYHeo@yonsei.ac.kr

I visited London University (UCL), School of Pharmacy while travelling through Europe. I met many friendly people during my time there, like Berni Widemann, a graduate student and office assistant at UCL School of Pharmacy. I would like to share this rewarding experience with the readers of The Blue Vanguard.

O

n June 30th, 2013, I arrived in London to mark the beginning of my month-long trip through Europe. I researched a few colleges of pharmacy

that coincided with my itinerary, and I came across London University School of Pharmacy. Then, I briefly researched the school, and learned that it was the best in the UK, and

The entrance of the School of Pharmacy. Infront of the entrance, there is St. George’s Gardens. Someone who met at the entrance introduced me to loby.

was the ranked third following Oxford University and Cambridge University according to University Guide.

Therefore, I was determined to see for myself how great the London University School of Pharmacy was.

The day before my visit, I downloaded a smart phone application of UCL Pharmacy on my cellular phone, which I used to view a map of the school. The next day, I departed from my guest house. I arrived at Russell Square by bus, and then walked to the UCL School of Pharmacy campus.

On my walk there, I could sense the peaceful atmosphere and watched as people leisurely enjoyed their time sun bathing at The Brunswick and St.George’s Gardens. I envied the students who got to walk past this beautiful scenery on a daily basis. I soon saw the red brick building of the UCL School of Pharmacy. At the entrance, I introduced myself as a pharmacy 2013 VOL.4

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GLOBAL NETWORK

Berni Widemann. He is graduate student of the school. He is also at the office of the school. He always smile to me and kindly response for my questions. He laughed when I asked to take a picture.

student from Korea to a staff member, and asked him whether I could get into the building. He happily obliged and led me to the entranceway. He introduced me to the front desk, where everyone was extremely kind to this unexpected visitor. They connected me with Berni Widemann, a graduate student of UCL School of Pharmacy and an office assistant, to act as my guide during my short visit.

I told him that the main purpose of my visit was to interview a pharmacy student studying abroad for The Blue Vanguard, and I gave him a copy of our third issue. Unfortunately, Berni Widemann said that all the undergraduate pharmacy students were gone for summer vacation. But he was impressed that undergraduate students were producing their own magazine, and by the mere fact that those students were from Korea writing for an English speaking audience. After learning what my interests were, Berni gave me a UCL guide book and said that I could find some of the information I wanted inside. The guide book

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

Here is loby of the School of Pharmacy. The man at the counter surprised that I am a pharmacy student in Korea and welcomed me to visit the School. When I get there, the loby was almost empty and very quiet. Later, Berni Widemann said to me that all the ungraduated students went to home for a vacation. He said that perhaps some ungraduated students will travel Europe like me.

would have been a helpful resource for students who were preparing for admission at UCL. Berni gave me a tour of the school.

Judging from its outer appearance, I expected the school to be older and more traditional. On the contrary, the buildings were newly renovated and furnished with modern technology.

Each floor of the building had a laboratory with scientists busy at work.

We then went to the John Hanbury Lecture Theatre, which was where the students took classes. It was a large room where the stairs made it appear to be longer in height than in width. When I looked down from the very top, I had to actually lean my body forward to get a clear view of the bottom of the stair steps. Berni and I agreed that making a presentation there would definitely be a nerve wrecking experience for the students.

Sadly, I bid Berni farewell at the lobby and thanked him for taking the time to show me around. Before I left UCL, I took a few pictures to share with The Blue Vanguard, so our read-

ers could visualize the school with me. From this experience, I was reminded once again how great it felt to be warmly welcomed abroad, and I would like to challenge our readers that the next time they are traveling, to visit our counterparts abroad. When you do, and you become tongue-tied,

The School of Pharmacy received its grant of arms in March, 1950. It includes the motto “Salutifer Orbi” which translates as “Bringing Health to the World”

GLOBAL

NETWORK

remember that all you need to jumpstart the conversation is to say, “Hi, I am a pharmacy student from Korea.”

Answers For The Questions From Our Readers Curriculum Differences Between the UK and Korea What is unique about UCL is several degrees about medicine except pharmacy. There are two kinds of pharmacology degree(BSc, Msci), Biomedical Science BSc degree, Medicinal Chemistry BSc degree and Pharmacy MPharm degree. Among them, only Pharmacy MPharm degree is given at the School of Pharmacy.

Other degrees are given at the School of Life and Medicinal Science. UCL’s course seems more fractionated than courses of the college of Pharmacy in Korea. In Korea, one degree and at most two major in each college of Pharmacy and there is little difference between them. Pharmacy student do

John Hanbury Lecture Theatre. Widemann really agreed to my opinion that a student who presentation infront of all audience and professor might be really nervous.

pharmacology, biomedical science and medicinal chemistry. Differently, in UCL, MPharm degree only means a candidate to be a pharmacist. After graduate 4 year course at the School of Pharmacy, graduated pharmacy students who get MPharm degree do two year exercise for clinical experience.

After that, they take a national exam to get Pharmacy Licence.

gained overseas and are registered, or eligible to register, as pharmacists in their country of qualification. B

How To Work As A Foreign Pharmacist in the UK

This is the picture looking to sky from 1st floor. Widemann said that each floor has another subject such as pharmacology.

The Overseas Pharmacists’ Assessment Programme (OSPAP) is a postgraduate diploma that is undertaken as the first part of the route to registration required by those who have qualified as a pharmacist from outside of the EEA. The OSPAP is a one-year course designed to ensure that those who have qualified overseas receive the appropriate education and training to prepare them for UK practice and entry to pre-registration training. The OSPAP course is available to those who hold a pharmacy qualification

I could see that Widemann really proud about the School’s modern conveniences. I just saw some part of them but I could agree with him. h t t p : / / w w w. u c l . a c . u k / p h a r m a cy / about/virtual_tour

2013 VOL.4

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CAMPUS ISSUE

Class Favorite For Most Attractive Eunnie Kim eunniekim@yonsei.ac.kr Attractive is an adjective that is typically used to describe a person whom one deems to be appealing to the senses.

Yet defining what determines attractiveness varies, and its definition may actually just be a concoction of positive attributes such as physical beauty, humor, intelligence, and kindness, that one applies to others.

The Blue Vanguard was curious to meet some of the attractive students of pharmacy on the different campuses. We asked the students from the Class of 2011 in the Colleges of Pharmacy in the Western Region, to vote for two of their classmates, one male and one female, to be introduced as their classâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most attractive people for this edition. We did not mention what being attractive entailed, and left it solely up to the students to decide. Then we asked these attractive students to briefly introduce themselves, and now, without further ado, let us introduce them to you.

Mi Kyung Park

Age | 23 years old Hobbies | Listening to music and watching movies Most Attractive Feature | I am always smiling. Plus, I eat and sleep a lot.

Yonsei University In Taek Shin

22 years old | Age Listening to a wide variety of music and lying or sitting still | Hobbies I am a friendly person. | Most Attractive Feature

Na Young Kim

Age | 27 years old Hobbies | Watching baseball Most Attractive Feature | I have a chic personality.

DongGook University Jae Ho Ahn

25 years old | Age Singing | Hobbies I become more appealing once you get to know me. | Most Attractive Feature

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CAMPUS ISSUE

So Hee Yoon

Age | 23 years old Hobbies | Forcing classmates to drink Most Attractive Feature | My lively face expressions.

SookMyung Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University Min Jung Son

22 years old | Age Caring for my mustache | Hobbies My mustache. | Most Attractive Feature

Jae Eun Park

Age | 26 years old Hobbies | Playing table tennis Most Attractive Feature | I have flawless skin.

Catholic University Tae Hoon Kim

26 years old | Age Hobbies: Riding my bicycle | Hobbies I have a well-defined facial structure. | Most Attractive Feature 2013 VOL.4

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Voices From the Field of Practical Training Byeong Hun Lee

bhleegen@yonsei.ac.kr

Recently, the College of Pharmacy of universities in Korea has changed their curriculums after government instituted the

Pharmacy Education Eligibility Test (PEET). This new curriculum requires pharmacy students to complete internships. In the

summer of 2013, the first round of practical training began at the College of Pharmacy at Yonsei University. During summer vacation, juniors visited several pharmaceutical factories and companies to begin their practical training in the field.

T

his internship aims to educate the students, who have a combination of both specialized knowledge and executive ability, so that they can solve diverse health and medical issues. Therefore, the pharmacy schools are encouraging students to acquire the basic skills pharmacy provided by this curriculum and to experience research and development (R&D) such as the sector of the medical field.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

Practical training is divided into two programs: Required Practical Training and Advanced Practical Training.

Pharmacy students need to fulfill eight hundred hours of Required Practical Training for twenty weeks at places such as local pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, industrial pharmacies, hospital pharmacies and clinical pharmacies.

The Required Practical Training is essential for all students at this college and it is completed at drugstores, health centers, pharmaceutical companies located in Incheon.

Advanced Practical Training requires a completion of 960 hours within twenty-four weeks, and is divided into three tracks: the Clinical Pharmacy Track (CPT), Industrial and Social Pharmacy Track (ISPT), and R&D Track (RDT).

Each part of the Advanced Practical Training is required for strengthening the professionalism of the students so they may determine what field they would want to enter upon graduation.

There are the interviews of juniors who completed the practical training during vacation. They responded several questions and the name of company are followed by that of junior.

CAMPUS ISSUE

Yuhan Enterprise -Jane Seo

1. Tasks “The team leader at Yuhan directed the overall tasks, so I could understand the roles of various departments such as quality assurance, production and the administration of distribution.

2. Work Atmosphere “Thankfully, the executive director prepared company dinner to show us its customs. So this gave us the opportunity to ask for advice from directors about how we can be successful in the work field.”

3. Note “I experienced a precious practical training and it helped me to understand overall pharmaceutical work. It was especially impressive that workers, while maintaining professionalism, had formed trust with customers. Moreover, there was difference between this company and others in that I could take practical trainings by the well-organized curriculum..”

Daewoong Pharma -Minju Kang

1. Tasks “At first, the director introduced the medicine-manufacturing plants of Daewoog and guided us through several departments, demonstrating the essential safety rules. In particular, I was educated on the regulations enforced on pharmacists and the current state of the pharmaceutical industry in Korea.”

2. Work Atmosphere “Most of the employees had special affection for the company and expertise about their work. In addition, they took great pride in working at Daewoong.”

3. Note “It was valuable that we were given the opportunity to pack the medical products during the manufacturing process by ourselves and to develop executive ability.”

JW Pharma -Hyejin Cho

1. Tasks “At JW Pharma, the practical training was proceeded mainly with education. There were no tasks I individually undertook and usually we were educated on the overall operation of the plants.”

2. Work Atmosphere “Moreover, the atmosphere was so friendly that employees could interact with each other without constraints.”

3. Note “Even though I had learned about pharmaceutical terminology in pharmaceutical industry, I could not master it. However, through this experience, I could acquire practical abilities such as the knowledge of inner workings of the company, and expand beyond the limits of theory in textbooks.”

Otsuka Korea -Misun Park

1. Tasks “During the training period, each director of the different departments collectively conducted a lecture. I was educated on fundamental theories such as the synthesis method of main material and the mechanism before we took a job.”

2. Work Atmosphere “Even though the workplace was located in far from cities, I could comfortably commute by the shuttle departing from Suwon station. The employees welcomed the interns and treated them to meals at luxurious restaurants.”

3. Note “This practical training allowed me to match the tasks to the subjects that I learned at school (such as Pharmaceutical Industry and Pharmacology). Furthermore, the directors demonstrated the work in detail, so that I was convinced it would be helpful later on when I choose my career.”

High Tech Pharm -Jongsung Han

1. Tasks “During the training period, we practiced several tasks in three departments: Production, Quality Control and Quality Assurance. Especially in the Quality Assurance department, I learned about the importance of having standard operating procedures (SOP) in writing to guarantee the quality of products.”

2. Work Atmosphere “Because there were not many employees, they treated me like family during my practical training.

Meanwhile, the company was famous for having great benefits system so employee satisfaction seemed very high.”

3. Note “More than anything else in the plants, I was impressed to learn of each principle of different machines in the process of synthesis. I also had a good opportunity to learn that the companies should make an effort to manufacture goods.” B 2013 VOL.4

31

PROFESSORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S INTERVIEW

Professor Ikyon Kim:

A man who loves pharmaceutical chemistry Ah Young Kim pharmay@yonsei.ac.kr

K

im Ikyon is an associate dean

Scholarship

and professor in the College of

1991 Bachelor of Pharmacy, Seoul University 1986 Doctor of Pharmacy, Seoul University (Pharmaceutical Chemistry) 2003 Ph.D, Iowa State University, Department of Chemistry (Organic Chemistry)

Pharmacy at Yonsei University. He is

an experienced and distinguished Pro-

fessor in the lecture room, and leading researcher in the laboratory. He pub-

lished more than 10 research papers and registered 3 patents. Despite, he was once a pharmacy student just like

us, and had walked the same path that

Career

1992-1999 Senior Fellow, DongA Pharmaceutical Company 2003-2003 Postdoctoral fellow, Iowa State University, Department of Chemistry 2003-2006 Research Associate, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Chemistry, 2006-2011 Senior Fellow, Korea Research Institue of Chemical Technology 2008-2008 Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy, Seoul University 2011-now Associate professor, College of Pharmacy, Yonsei University 2013-now Associate Dean, College of Pharmacy, Yonsei University

Research Area

- Medical chemistry - Development of efficient organic reaction - Total synthesis of biologically active natural product

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

we have walked in around 30 years

ago. The Blue Vanguard interviewed Professor Ikyon Kim to learn from his

experience and learn what he is researching at the moment.

Patent

- Patent No. USP 6,538,147 Pyrazolopyrimidinone derivatives for the treatment of impotence - Patent.No. USP 6,025,387 Gastroprotective flavone/flavanone compounds with therapeutic effect on inflammatory bowel disease - Patent No. 1020070125491 1-[1-(3,4-dialkoxybenzyl)-1H-pyrrol Compounds, Process For Preparing Thereof, And Pharmaceutical Composition For Treating Or Preventing Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Arthritis, Atopic Dermatitis, Tumor And Degenerative Brain Diseases Comp

Please tell us about your special memory throughout pharmacy student life.

Well, I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of any particular memory off the top of my head. At that time, as far as I remember, I used to hang out with 7 or 8 classmates and travel to several cities in Korea such as Busan or Gwangju every vacation.

I remember visiting their hometown, going hiking, and having pleasant meals.

Have you ever wanted to become a professor?

No, I never expected I would be a professor. As an undergraduate student, I was interested in pharmacy, for

PROFESSOR’S INTERVIEW

I had a great opportunity to learn biology and chemistry which were one of my favorite subjects. I don’t think I had a specific goal then, but studied hard as much as I could, because I did not want to fall behind. After graduation, I went to a graduate school to get a master’s degree rather than joining the army. As an alternative to serving in the military, I worked at DongA Pharmaceutical Company as a researcher. During that time, it happened that my father passed away and my mother collapsed. As an only child, I had to support my mother and I was not able to continue to work on the study. Later, luckily, I continued my studies in the U.S. After returning to Korea, I worked at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology as a chemistry researcher in Daejeon. While working on my individual research, I had a chance to become a professor at the College of Pharmacy.

Now I think ‘This is my way.’

What do you do when you are in the office?

When I come to the office in the morning, first I check my e-mails and read papers related to my studies. Then I go to the lab to check how the experiments are going on. I monotonously swing back and forth like a metronome in my office.

tificially by man. These things that I mentioned attracted my attention, and that’s how I decided to study Pharmaceutical Chemistry.

What are you working on now? Please explain us about your study I’m trying to develop an organic synthesis process which is both effective and eco-friendly. I am particularly interested in the total synthesis of biologically active natural product. I have been designing a natural compound that can be a medicine out of a number of natural products and working on constructing a chemical library. With biology professors, I am collaborating on a project to find how chemical components have an effect on the human body. Currently, I am also working on a government project with a private pharmaceutical company on research about a total synthesis of a natural product as an anticancer substance.

What is your goal now? Is there anything specific you

would like to achieve?

As a professor, I cannot help thinking about education. I want to deliver my knowledge and information to my students effectively, so they can be excellent organic chemists and pharmaceutical chemists. This is my goal as a professor. As a researcher, I want to achieve better results in my field.

What would be your advice to Pharmacy students?

Of course, GPA is a great concern for each and every student. However, students must find their interests in this field. For instance, I had confidence that I wanted to study organic chemistry as an undergraduate student. I not only found interest in this field, but also prepared for the subject before going to a graduate school. I recommend students to elaborate one’s own specialty. And then, keep working on it. Finally, you will become an expert throughout a rule of 10,000 hours even though you might have concerns about your future or goal. B

What made you choose this field as your specialty?

When I was an undergraduate, I loved Organic Chemistry. Moreover, I think organic structures are gorgeous.

For example, the structure of alkaloid is very unique and exciting to me. I like to learn how this structure is composed of and made. Of course, there is a difference between structures composed naturally, and composed ar2013 VOL.4

33

COLUMN

Anti-obesity drug Gye Hee Yi

gyehee@yonsei.ac.kr

Lifestyle modifications such as diet and exercise intervention are essential for both prevention and management of obesity.

Some patients find that diet and exercise is not a viable option; for these patients, anti-obesity drugs can be a last resort. However, many anti-obesity drugs had been withdrawn from the market due to serious adverse effects. On that account, many researchers are attempting to develop safer, more effective and better tolerated drugs, so there are a number of anti-obesity drugs available in the market. Because there are a lot of types and levels of intensity of users should get a prescription from their doctors and should decide on a pharmacotherapy treatment under careful cnsideration of their doctors. Users should fully comprehend what kinds of drugs they are taking, and how these drugs can alter their body mechanisms such as reducing their appetite or increasing their body metabolism. Now, lets thoroughly resolve the doubts everyone has about anti-obesity drugs.

Q

1. Who are recommended a drug?

The current recommendations for the treatment of obese people include increased physical activity and reduced calorie intake. If diet and exercise interventions are ineffective for individuals with a body mass index of [BMI] â&#x2030;Ľ30 kg/m2 or for those with a BMI of â&#x2030;Ľ27 kg/m2, when co-morbidities, such as hypertension or type 2 diabetes mellitus are present, may only be prescribed the drug.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

Q

2. How does each drug act on our body?

CENTRALLY ACTING DRUGS

for the suppression of the appetite. : Catecholamines and their derivatives promote a sense of satiety through its central action as a serotonin and norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitor. Serotonin helps feel satiety and norepinephrine is a chemical messenger that signals a flightor fight response, reducing hunger. In addition, it may mitigate against the fall in thermogenesis through stimulation of peripheral norepinephrine receptors. Classical catehcholamine weight loss drugs, containing Sibutramine, such as Reductil, Nvu, and Slimmer have been prohibited in South Korea due to their adverse effects on the cardiovascular system since 2010.

Phentermine containing drugs, such as Pentmin, Adipex, Dietamin, Furimin, in clinically used doses, work on the hypothalamus to release norepinephrine,It works outside the brain as well to release epinephrine or adrenaline causing fat cells to break down stored fat, but the principal basis of efficacy is hunger-reduction. It was found that these worked three to four times more efficiently for the obese diabetic patients.

Dietylpropion containing drugs, such as Dipion or Wellpion, worked similarly.

However, the levels of intensity of supressing appetite were somwhat different. In that regard, Diethylpropion is relatively weaker in intensity, but it has fewer adverse effects. Such differences act distinctly for individuals, thus customized prescriptions should be made, considering patientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; health condition.

Floxetin containing drugs, such as Selectin and Fuxetin, inhibit serotonin reuptake in the hypothalamus. It performed outstanding efficacy in the treatment of Bluimia Nervosa, a stress binge-eating disorder. It also improved symptoms of nausea and vomiting after binge eating.

Betahistidine(Meniace) is an HI receptor agonist, and partial H3 receptor antagonist, which produces feelings of satiety and consequently reduces calorie intake.

Initially it was prescribed for vertigo, but it is now also prescribed as anti-obesity drug, after it was observed that it induced loss of appetite.

COLUMN

PANCREATIC LIPASE INHIBITORS:

Lipase breaks down triacylglycrol (a building block of fat in the body) into an absorbable form of monoglyceride and fatty acids.

Orlistat (Xenical and Alli) blocks this and thereby prevents fat absorption. Orlistat inhibits pancreatic and gastric lipase, thereby decreasing ingested triglyceride hydrolysis. It produces a dosedependent reduction in dietary fat absorption, leading to weight loss in obese subjects.

INCREASING BODY METABOLISM:

Seugafen, improves body metabolism and reduces body fat by polytherapies of ephedrine and acetateaminophen. Caffeine inhibits norepinephrine inhibitors, adenosine and prostaglandin, which enhance s the action of norepinephrine. Epedrine acts like epinephrine which increases oxygen consumption and facilitates heat production in adipocytes. However, there are increasing risks of adverse effects of both drugs. Therefore, when polytherapy is the treatment of choice, patients should start from the minimal dose. Ephedrine autonomously makes synthetic neuron system unstable, so it may cause irregular heart palpitations, and patients may become restless and anxious.

Green tea extracts, Catechin, is contained in Rosecana, Daien and Lipowel capsules. Catechinpolyphenols inhibit the formation of COMT(catechol-O-methyl-transferase) which is a digestive enzyme of norepinephrine. It increased and prolonged the effect on thermogenesis and fat oxidation, and resulted in fat breakdown.

Q

3. What kinds of side effects are expected?

Some prescription weight loss drugs are stimulants, which are recommended only for short-term use, because these interventions have limited long-term success and weight is regained when treatment is discontinued. Most common side effects include dry mouth, constipation, headache, high blood pressure, faster heart rate, palpitations, closed-angle glaucoma, drug addiction, restlessness, agitation, and insomnia.

Another drug, orlistat, blocks absorption of dietary fats, and as a result may cause oily spotting bowel movements (steatorrhea), oily stool, stomach pain, and flatulence. A similar medication, designed for patients with Type 2 diabetes, is Acarbose, which partially blocks absorption of carbohydrates in the small intestine, and produces similar side effects including stomach pain, and flatulence.

Weight loss effect is, in almost all cases, dosage-dependent, because patients become pharmacoresistant to anti-obesity drug. They have to take higher doses as time goes by.

Often patients tend to become psychologically dependent on the drug and sometimes they cannot sustain their life without the drugs. That is why anti-obesity drugs are considered unintentionally narcotic. B

2013 VOL.4

35

Good

HEALTH

Collagen, the Solve-all for Youthful Looks?

Yun Kyung Heo Ykheo107@yonsei.ac.kr Can collagen supplements actually reduce signs of aging? Collagen drinks are becoming more popular in the ever-growing cosmetic market of anti-aging therapies. Collagen drink mix commonly overstates that it boosts natural collagen and promotes cell renewal, for younger looking skin. However, doesn’t this seem too good to be true? Can it actually improve our skin?

What is collagen?

C

ollagen is a structural molecule that sustains tendons, skin, and cartilage. It gives the skin some structure.

In fact, this scaffold that supports the skin slowly degrades as people age. The degradation leads to wrinkles that accompany aging, which troubles most women. However, there is no scientific evidence that degraded collagen can be replaced through supplementary intakes.

Dr. Peter A. Aldea, a leading plastic surgeon, recognized in the article, “TOP Doctor” of U.S. News and World Report, declaims, “Collagen is just another protein chain which, when eaten, is digested by the stomach acids and the upper small bowel into its particular amino acid subunits.” Let’s take a look at the ingredients of collagen drinks. Most of the drinks mainly include fish collagen and other peptides. As shown in the bottom, salmon ovary peptide and collagen are the main component of

the drink. Most of these proteins will be digested before they are thoroughly absorbed to the skin. For those with vitamin or nutrient-deficiency, taking supplements may help one stay young. However, if one already has normal

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

levels of essentials, then the replacement will not make anything noticeably better. Protein deficiency can cause collagen depletion, because substances that form collagen are insufficient. In this situation, taking collagen drinks could help. However, in that case, consuming a highprotein diet sounds more reasonable, just as Dr. Aldea has mentioned.

Then what is the right solve-all for youthful looks?

Instead of clinging to expensive so-called “healthy” foods, try to be faithful to the basic necessity. Proper sun care regimen and sufficient nutrition are the key points of maintaining healthy skin. To ensure sufficient collagen in your skin, first, prevent loss of the collagen that you already have by protecting your skin from the sun. Moreover, eating the right food and getting good sources of antioxidants from fruits and vegetables are very essential for collagen production. America’s renowned pharmacist, Suzy Cohen recommends Astaxanthin, the “king” of carotenoids. “This natural algae acts as an internal sunscreen,” says Cohen. Astaxanthin is the most powerful antioxidant known in the “natural world.” It is included in salmon, crab, and lobster. She also suggests to eat food with plant oils or fish oils to add moisture to your skin.

In order to stay healthy and young, a nutritious diet is the most important point. Be aware that not all advertisements are accurate. Know what you drink before you open your wallet. B

CULTURE

The Essential Book & Documentary Properly, we should read for power. Man reading should be man intensely alive.

The book should be a ball of light in one’s hand.

- Ezra Pound (1885.10.30 ~ 1972.11.1)

Ho Sung Jang yourself28@yonsei.ac.kr

What Pharmacists Have to Say About Pharmacists 25 besides Sung kwang, Hong / Bookie / 2013

What do pharmacists do exactly? The general public tend to stereotype pharmacists as those who fill and dispense prescriptions written by medical doctors. Is it true that this is the only role pharmacists take on, as if they were vending machines?

The answer to the aforementioned question can be found in, “What Pharmacists Have to Say About Pharmacists”. This book is a collection of essays written by twenty-six different Korean pharmacists, all who are currently working in different fields of the pharmaceutical industry, including pharmaceutical companies, clinics, factories, and major hospitals.

Additionally, it goes on to give an insightful outlook on a typical work day in the lives of Clinical Research Associates (CRA), Medical Writers, and Pharmacy Interior Designers to name a few.

Upon reading, you will feel that you have experienced the various lives of different pharmacists and will gain a deeper perspective on the roles they undertake. If you are guilty of having ever viewed pharmacists as vending machines, through “What Pharmacists Have to Say About Pharmacists” you will shed that idea completely.

White jungle Yoon Hee, Song / 2011

I

issue of The Blue Vanguard, we introduced a movie called Sicko, which touches upon the problems of the American health care system. In this issue, we want to introduce “White Jungle,” the Korean version of Sicko. White Jungle is a movie produced by NGO activist and industrial medicine physician, Yoon-Hee Song. It documents the darker side of the current healthcare system in Korea.

In 2011, the Korean government were still more concerned about gaining profit rather than providing quality health care. Commercialization has turned the market for health care into a white jungle, where there is fierce competition amongst doctors preying on the patients. Unfortunately, doctors and patients have become accustomed to this jungle.

Song goes behind the camera with aims to deliver a message about the present healthcare system in Korea. It allows us to question the system that is currently intact, and seek for a more effective health care system that prioritizes public welfare over personal profit. B 2013 VOL.4

37

EPILOGUE

THE

BLUE VANGUARDIANS

Gye Hee Yi By the help of Pharmacy students in Western district, it seems like many more students can enjoy this volume. I appreciate their cooperation.

I'd also like to welcome our new members and thank for their active and diligent participation.

Seol Kyung Kim I had a precious experience interviewing with whom I have respected for a long time. I am specially thankful for Chanhee Kim, Sangeun Lee, Roy Burlew and Sharman Horwood about looking over our articles.

Thanks so much.

Eunnie Kim As the newest member, it was amazing to see how the magazine was put together and brought to life.

I look forward to all that The Blue Vanguard has to offer in the future, near and far.

Byeong Hun Lee We did it. What an awesome experience! Thanks for members.

Ha Rin Lee I am glad to release fourth issue. Thanks to members and Chanhee Kim!!

Ga Yeong Heo This issue was my last issue as an editor-in-chief. I wish the Blue Vanguard get better and continue forever.

Ah Young Kim I am so honored to be a Blue Vangardian and release this forth issue. Hope many pharmacy students can get much informations through this issue.

Yoo Jin Choi This was the first time I wrote the Blue Vanguard article. Although wirting article was little difficult, it was pleasant time. Thank you for reading our magazine :)

Yong Jung Jang Once again, I've learned so much through this whole process. I want to give thanks to everyone who helped me, especially Chanhee Kim and Michael.

Hyung Mi Yoon Finally the fourth issue is released! Every step of writing and designing articles is meaningful to me.

I hope that you will discover useful and interesting informations within this issue.

Yun Kyung Heo This is my first contribution to the Blue Vanguard. It is such an honor that I can be a part, though yet very small. I have no doubt of the Blue Vanguard's great potentialities.

Ho Sung Jang It gives me a sense of achivement through making the Blue Vanguard's fourth issue. My heart is too full for words.

On Yoo Kang Working as a member of design team, I found myself liking to play with texts, colors and pictures. It was a meaningful and interesting time.

Jai Young Cheon It was a great privilege working with the Blue Vanguardians. I was thrilled to design the very first magazine I read in English.

I'm looking forward to working on the upcoming issues.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

FEEDBACK

I definately agree with that 'we should broaden the range of ~' from the article 'Midwives for expecting mothers in the NZ'.

I found this article quite interesting as Korea should go after the NZ's case. Pregnant women in korea deserve friendly environment to give birth rather than being treated like a patient. France is the only country of which the policy successfully resulted in the increase in childbirth rate considering its fertility rate has hit the bottom for the past couple of decades. It will be knowledgeable to do further research in the case of France as well.

Monitoring The Blue Vanguard

Dong hoon Lee, Pharmacist of

New Songdo Pharmacy

After finished reading The Blue Vanguard, the first word popped up in my mind was 'passion'.

As a student in the college of pharmacy, I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t imagine how much effort was required to do such a job during the school period.

Other than the fact that it's a magazine written in English, it makes The Blue Vanguard more interesting that it is dealing with many pharmaceutical issues.

Especially, I found it very interesting how they put different aspects toward 'Seipeu Pharmacy' as 'opinions of pharmacists' and 'negative opinions of others'.

The Blue Vanguard makes me think about current international and local pharmaceutical issues and I hope more students in pharmacy department will have a chance to read it in the near future.

Thanks for the passionate work done by students of Yonsei Pharmacy and I will be more than happy to read the next edition.

Jung Su Yune, Korea University, College of Pharmacy Freshmen 2013 VOL.4

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THE BLUE VANGUARD