The Blue Vanguard Vol.8

Yonsei Student Pharmacist

THE

BLUE

VANGUARD 2015

Winter

Vol. 8 02 FEATURE ARTICLE The Marketing Story of Reckitt Benckiser Korea 06 COVER STORY Leader of Innovation-Salon, Mr. Sung Joo Lee 14 INTERNATIONAL ISSUE Do You Need A Drug or A Narcotic

CONTENTS 4 6 9 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 25 26 28 31

FEATURE ARTICLE The Marketing Story of Reckitt Benckiser Korea COVER STORY Meeting Sungjoo Lee from Sanofi, the Director of Innovation Salon for New Drug Development PHARMACIST How to Become a Pharmacist in Canada PROFESSOR An Autumn Stroll with Professor Yunhee Lee INTERNATIONAL ISSUE Do You Need A Drug or A Narcotic NATIONAL ISSUE Drug Delivery Service : Why Is It So Problematic?

NATIONAL ISSUE Workout Supplement: Is It Safe?

COLUMN Unexpected Use of Drugs in Our Daily Life COLUMN From The Past to The Present : The Development of Antipsychotic Drugs REVIEW PAPER Current state of anticancer pipeline development and currently focused anticancer agent; Checkpoint inhibitor.

PHARMACY A Visit to a Smart Pharmacy PHARMACY Pillpick : The Robot Pharmacist STUDENT CLUB With PPL, Feel, Hear and Understand Pharmaceutical Industry EPILOGUE & EDITOR’S NOTE

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FEATURE ARTICLE

The Marketing Story of

Reckitt Benckiser Korea WooHyuk Choi

08choi31@naver.com

O

n September 2015, Blue Vanguard first met a pharmacist Kihyun Ko as one of the lecturers of a big seminar conducted by Pharmaceutical marketing Professional Leaders (PPL). Ko has been working in pharmaceutical sales and marketing department for more than 10 years, and now he is the medical marketing manager of a healthcare company, Reckitt Benckiser (RB) Korea. During the conversation with Ko after the lecture, we got to know that he is in charge of his company’s two representative medicines, Gaviscon and Strepsils. He said he would like to introduce those two medicines and his personal web-log (blog), which contains various pharmaceutical information, to the Blue Vanguard readers.

Ko has been running an online pharmaceutical marketing blog to get closer to and communicate with the pharmaceutical members. Although the blog started from late 2014, it already reached over 150,000 visitors by keeping up to date with the latest issues and useful information. Ko addresses two specialized fields: Pharmacy and Marketing.

As the manager of medical marketing in his company, he is interested in sales and marketing of other pharmaceutical companies and their medical products. He talks about new medicine releases, advertisements, brand images (what he calls brand personality), sales statistics, and even academic analysis of marketing strategies. The blog was like a bible for pharmaceutical sales representatives. At the same time, Ko is a hard working student trying to get a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. He shares his personal experience and things that he studied to the subscribers, so any pharmacists who also wants to get the Master’s degree would like to read his postings. Furthermore, the blog also contains many kinds of information for pharmacy students such as recruitment, lecture, conference, and competition. This makes a great number of student pharmacists visit and subscribe his blog.

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FEATURE ARTICLE

Ko introduced Gaviscon as the most representative drug of RB Korea. Gaviscon is a non-prescription syrup type drug that is taken orally to treat heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Three major ingredients are sodium alginate, calcium carbonate, and sodium hydrogen carbonate. In the stomach, the sodium hydrogen carbonate helps the drug rise to the surface by making carbon dioxide. Meanwhile, the combination of sodium alginate and calcium carbonate forms a layer on the contents of the stomach, which prevents stomach acid from refluxing up into the esophagus. Even if reflux does occur, the protective barrier is first to contact the esophageal mucosa, instead of the acid. This direct process may look easy but it is the most effective way to protect the organs from stomach acid. Gaviscon works without being absorbed into the blood, so it has very few side effects. Recently, RB Korea has started selling GavisconDouble Action that treats not only heartburn and GERD, but also indigestion by neutralizing stomach acid. This enhanced drug soon became incredibly popular in the market, and 93% of the patients who have been using it replied that they will be using the drug again.

The other representative drug is Strepsils, a troche type medicine which is also non-prescriptive. Patient should dissolve the lozenge slowly in the mouth to relieve the discomfort of sore throats. Strepsils contains one of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), Flurbiprofen. It works by preventing synthesis of prostaglandins that are responsible for pain and inflammation. Lowered concentration of prostaglandins, as a consequence, reduces pain and inflammation in the throat. In addition, some extra fruity tastes inside improve the flavor and help patients with taking the lozenge easily.

You may one day also need Gaviscon or Strepsils considering that each of them is the best-selling medicine in the market of the ‘heartburn remedy’ and the ‘sore throat remedy’. Constantly increasing sales of these drugs implies that you will have to know this information as a pharmacist, too. The blog of pharmacist Ko is also an absolutely recommendable site to visit. If you are working for a pharmaceutical company or if you are a pharmacy student, you are very welcome to visit the blog and find all the information and great resource you need. B

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COVER STORY

Meeting

Sung Joo Lee

From Sanofi, The Director of Innovation Salon For New Drug Development SungKyung Lee dltjdrud93@naver.com

Expe SIMPL r virtu ience i E PRO n b al dr FILE uild ug d ing isco Initi a very team nd lea co-in ated and ding s in As vent lead ia. and resea acad innovat rch ive d emia proj rugs Freq with ects to u e n biot tly in and ech v u inno niversit ited spea ker a ies o vatio t con n an n th d dr feren ug d e topic ce isco o f op s very en

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COVER STORY

Q. Your current

job domain is known as ‘Strategic Planning.’

What is the reason that you chose this field?

When I was young, I always dreamt of being a biologist or an entrepreneur, but I have never thought to be both.

At first, I believed that two fields were not compatible and, actually, impossible to be both. As I studied more and deeper, I discovered that, in pharmaceutical companies, there are fields where life science and business is integrated and utilized together.

Q. What was your major in col-

lege and how did it help with your career path? s I was majoring in biochemistry as an undergraduate, I heard that our seniors were getting jobs at Amorepacific Cosmetics and LG Chemistry. In order to work at these two companies, I needed a master’s degree which was the primary reason why I went to the graduate school.

For my Ph. D, I majored in biophysics which studies and discovers the three-dimensional structure of the materials in the protein sector, due to a rather simple reason that I enjoyed calculation. Later, my interests in the quantitative field inside the biotechnology domain incremented. I started studying for a Ph. D degree because I felt it would be more beneficial when I was trying to get a job. As a result, I spent two more years studying for Ph. D and returned to Korea to get a job at a research institute in LG which is the point of my life where my career started.

At first, I focused on the biophysics and computer simulation in the research department.

My team tried to seek efficient processes in building new medicines using a

A

three-dimensional structural model.

After working at the LG research institute for few years, I transferred to the Department of Strategic Planning which is when I realized that researches are not necessarily conducted inside laboratories. When I was working in this department, we only suggested ideas and others carried out our idea and came back with quantitative data.

I found out that with the right research partner, I will only need to think about new research topics and do not need to conduct the experiments myself. After some time, Sanofi R&D department called me.

They demanded such individuals with talent who can lead strategic planning. I was deeply moved with their demand and I applied as soon as possible. Thankfully, I was successfully accepted and, there, I focused on a strategic ideas to find a medicine to cure liver cancer and hepatitis type B without managing experiments in laboratories. Although my team lacked specific tools for experiments, we had all kinds of research papers that we can refer to. That was the point. We did not conduct any specific experiments but we used these papers to help us decide what kind of topics we should look into for curing diseases. If one of the members decides to conduct a research project, we could proceed on a joint research project with our partners in other department to develop a new medicine.

use a metaphor to explain my work.

Think about modeling. Modeling is similar to drawing a map. A map does not show everything in the certain area, but it is simplified, so that the user can understand easily with a simple glance on the map. Strategic planning is the field which I guide the users to find their destination. I help people to understand the complicated biological phenomenons by characterizing it into a model, more simply put, I make a human body map. I am responsible in helping our workers by giving an outline and showing them a specific and innovative path on how to make a good medicine.

Q.

What is the difference between the current job and previous work during your Ph. D program? uring my doctorate’s degree, it was very important to neatly present my researches as well as to seek new research topics. However, now, I have to collect and manage the research materials that our co-workers have already carried out. Therefore I can professionally introduce and explain them to others and, sometimes, come up with an innovative idea in order to receive continuous funding to continue our research program. The biggest difference from my previous

D

Q.

What exactly is ‘strategic planning’? What do you do in this field? trategic planning is a sector where one translates research papers and come up with an idea to directly apply it for curing patients.

Whenever, I receive this question, I

S

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COVER STORY

work during Ph. D program is that I don’t have to do a research myself. I emphasize again that I do not need to do actual experiments. Anyhow, not all pharmaceutical companies operate like we do. Most of the other R&D company workers must come up with ideas as well as conduct the actual experiment.

Q.

In your opinion, what kind of ability or proficiency should undergraduate students develop for their future? must choose my words wisely here, because students who are reading this article will be finding a job at least 5 to 10 years later from now. Since nobody is sure how companies will change in 5 to 10 years, I cannot specify an ability.

That is how fast-changing this field is. To be honest, I firmly believe that individuals needed in this company will not be the same in the future. What I can tell you is the ‘mega-trend.’ The need for bio-medicine will continue to grow: Antibodies, proteins, drugs, and synthetic drugs are still needed and genetic therapy is starting to develop significantly along with cell therapy and T cell therapy. To add on, the demand for people majoring in mathematical statistics will also increase. When students studying pharmacy visited me 7 years ago, I told them to take mathematics courses.

As drug industry is developing into a quantified domain, basic mathematical knowledge became important and demanded. In addition, pharmacy students always have a broad spectrum of opportunity. They may choose to work or go to a graduate school or anything else. I just want to say that there are diverse paths and you must choose it wisely.

I

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Q. We have heard that you are

the leader of the ‘Innovation-Salon.’

What does ‘Innovation-Salon’ signify?

‘Innovation-salon’

was made so that people who have similar interests and ideas in inventing innovative new drugs can come together and discuss with each other.

This allowed to form a union where people who work in similar fields but in different companies to gather up. In every conference, each member takes turn to introduce their researches and explains the recent trends or teaches new information from an academic meeting. Each person gives about an hour long presentation followed by a Question and Answer session.

Around 10 to 20 people take part and everyone can freely participate. At last, but not the least, we also have an after party enjoying beer along with deep conversations related to scientific topics. All people from different work places get together to talk about their research or ideas about innovative medicines at the ‘Innovation-Salon.’

Writer’s experience at innovation-salon.

P

articipants of the Innovationsalon included not only people in Korea but also scientists in foreign

countries. They took part through a video-conference system. I had the opportunity to listen to the lecture of professor Shin Jae Guk from Inje University, College of Pharmacy. His specialty was on Pharmacogenomics and he explained his current research area. Professor Shin noticed that many students from College of Pharmacy were attending his presentation, so he kindly explained the important role of pharmacists in the field of Pharmacogenomics. When I was learning Genomics back in university, I found it hard to imagine and think of a role of a pharmacist in the actual field.

However, through professor Shin’s presentation, my bold questions were answered. The personalized pharmaceutical care through Pharmacogenomics will be possible in our generation. Seeing theories being applied to the reality, I recognized that our imaginations were not just things that comes true in dreams but something that we will actually observe in near future. Of course, students can easily participate in Innovation-Salon and Mr. Lee recommends many students to do so.

You can take part and apply through facebook by searching ‘HuckSin-SinYaK-Salon in Korean’. B

PHARMACIST

How to Become a Pharmacist in Canada Heejo Lee

lhjo1990@yonsei.ac.kr

M

ost of Koreans regard Canada as a nice place to live because the country is widely known as a safe country to

immigrate. Also, Canada has large Korean communities in big cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, so it is relatively

easy to settle down and get a job for the immigrants. Especially, Pharmacists are well-respected and well-paid occupation in Canada, so it will be a wonderful place to go if you want to work as a pharmacist outside of Korea. Then how can we become a pharmacist in Canada?

In order to be a pharmacist in Canada, you should first pass the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada(PEBC) Certification test which is composed of Evaluating Examination(EE), Qualifying Examination Part1(Multi ple-Choice Question, MCQ) and Part2(Objective Structured Clinical Examination, OSCE), in addition to Document Evaluation and English Language Proficiency test(ELP).

After that, you will take the Jurisprudence Examination(JE) and the Structured Practical Training(SPT) required by the province government. If you pass all these processes, then you will be able to apply for a full pharmacist registration.

Specific explanation of each process is as followed.

pharmacy school, and grade transcript.

2. Evaluating Examination

EE consists of 300 questions evaluating four academic areas: Biomedical Science, Pharmaceutical Science, Pharmacy and Behavioral Science, Social and Administrative Science. It is held on every January and July, and the minimum cut-off line to pass is 60% of the

1. Document Evaluation

Document Evaluation is a step to get an issuance of the PEBC ID. You need to submit your pharmacist license of your country, birth certificate, degree certificate of the 2015 VOL.8

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PHARMACIST

whole problems. Candidates are allowed a maximum of three times of attempts to take EE, and if you fail all three times, you must take a lecture program provided by PEBC to get the last chance.

program to get the last additional opportunity.

3. Multiple-choice Question

7. Jurisprudence Examination

MCQ is also a test with 300 questions being held on every May and November. This exam evaluates seven areas to see if candidates have clinical knowledge. Major seven evaluating areas are patient care, collaboration and team work, legal and professional responsibilities, therapeutic information, communication and education, drug distribution, and management principles. Some of the questions are actually dummy questions that are not being graded.

6. Structured Practical Training

SPT is a practical program which is performed in hospitals and community pharmacies. It varies from province to province, including its prerequisites, so candidates should complete what the College of Pharmacist of each province requires. For example, the British Columbia province asks applicants to take the Canadian Pharmacy Practice Programme(CP3) in the University of British Columbia before 500 hours of STP program is performed. You also need to pre-register to the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia, and get the work-permit or citizenship in Canada to take the CP3. Please check the web-sites of the College of Pharmacist listed below.

JE varies from province to province just like SPT. To pass JE, candidates should study pharmacist’s law contained in each provincial acts. Moreover, candidates should take JE at the same province where they performed SPT.

4. English Language Proficiency

If you obtained your pharmacy degree outside of Canada or USA, you must submit English test result to College of pharmacist of province, and it is called the ELP. TOEFL, MELAB, CanTEST and IELTS are eligible test, and minimum cut-off line to pass the ELP varies from province to province. Also, you must complete ELP for applying CP3.

5. Objective Structured Clinical Examination

OSCE examines how a candidate deals with practical situations in a room that is called a station. It is focused on seven aspects that is same as MCQ. OSCE is administered on the weekend of the same week of the MCQ test. Candidates are assessed in 20 stations, and they spend seven minutes in each station. Just like EE and MCQ, the applicants have three chances to pass and need to take the PEBC lecture

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College of Pharmacist Website of each province Alberta : http://pharmacists.ab.ca/ Quebec : http://www.opq.org/ British Columbia : http://www.bcpharmacists.org/ Ontario : http://www.ocpinfo.com/ Nova Scotia : http://www.nspharmacists.ca/ New Brunswick : http://www.nbpharmacists.ca/ Manitoba : http://mpha.in1touch.org/ Prince Edward Island : http://www.pepharmacists.ca/ Saskatchewan : http://saskpharm.ca/ Newfoundland and Labrador : http://www.nlpb.ca/

PHARMACIST

In addition to these instructions on becoming a pharmacist in Canada, Blue Vanguard has interviewed a Korean pharmacist who actually works in Canada. I hope this can help you when you may one day also want to work in Canada as a pharmacist.

BV(Blue Vanguard) : Please briefly introduce yourself.

Min : I’m Seonae Min working at a drug chain store in British Columbia, Vancouver Island. Graduating in February 2010, I started working at a community pharmacy and after 5 months, worked for a pharmaceutical company for a year and a half. In 2011, I prepared for PEBC while working for the company and flew to Canada in February 2014 to work as a pharmacist in Canada. It has been a year since I worked as a pharmacist in Canada.

BV : What motivated you to become pharmacist in Canada?

Min : I did not have a special motivation except an interest in English since I had been in college. Few pharmacists have the chance to go abroad and I thought working abroad would give me the benefits of learning English as well. Also, one day I thought about to what extent I can be promoted as a pharmacist at the company I was working for and I wondered if it was possible to work and care for my child together. Naturally, my interest in becoming a pharmacist in Canada grew.

BV : What was your biggest difficulty in becoming a pharmacist in Canada?

Min : Since I studied very hard, PEBC was not a problem except for OSCE. Because listening and speaking are crucial to pass OSCE, I simulated the examination situation to prepare myself. Actually, the biggest problem in becoming pharmacist in Canada was to deal with the work permit that is mandatory to work in Canada. Most pharmacists prepare PEBC without thinking about the work permit, but they should keep in mind a work permit is compulsory in order to get a job.

BV : What are the areas in which Korean Pharmacist can work with a pharmacist in Canada certification?

Min : Most pharmacists in Canada work at a retail pharmacy or a hospital pharmacy. Because most hospitals prefer pharmacists with a Pharm D. or native pharmacists in Canada, foreign pharmacists usually work at retail pharmacies.

BV : What is the difference between Korean and pharmacist in Canada? And what are their daily workloads and how is the working environment?

Min : Perhaps many people think the Canadian working environment is good, but that is not necessarily true. There are various pharmacies. For example, there are some that work eight hours a day for five days a week, and some others work twelve hours a day for three days a week. In my case, I work eight hours a day, five days a week. Many large drug chain stores are located in a large discount store and these stores close at 10pm or 12pm. This means that pharmacists working in that store work until that time.

While pharmacists’ work is focused on filling prescriptions in Korea, checking prescription and understanding drug interaction is the central work in Canada. In fact, pharmacy technicians or assistants enter prescriptions or type in prescriptions and pharmacists usually answer the patient‘s question or check any doctor‘s request about the prescription.

BV : How do Canadians receive foreign pharmacists?

Min : While there is little racial discrimination, how foreign pharmacists are perceived completely depend on their proficiency of English. Because Canada is made up of people from all over the world, prejudice is not exposed directly. But if pharmacists are not fluent in English, it will be difficult to work as the communication is hard with the patients due to the accent.

BV : What would be your advice to the pharmacy students who wants to be a pharmacist in Canada?

Min : The pharmacist in Canada market was pretty good three or four years ago. However, nowadays, the market is not that good because of the competition among foreign pharmacists. If you want to be a pharmacist in Canada, you must consider immigration and prepare thoroughly.

The PEBC is not everything. Some pharmacists around me went back to Korea due to visa or job issues. However, if you will crave for it, there is always a way. If you decide to take the challenge in becoming a pharmacist in Canada, you should prepare thoroughly and finish it as quickly as you can. B

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PROFESSOR

An autumn stroll with professor Yunhee lee BoKyoung Kim

bokyoungkim@yonsei.ac.kr

What are you working on now?

What is your research area?

Scholarship

2001 Bachelor of Pharmacy, Seoul National University 2003 Master of Pharmacy, Seoul National University (Hygienic Pharmacy)

2012 Ph. D, Wayne State University School of Medicine

(Molecular and Toxicologic Pathology, Pharmacology)

Career

2003. 12 - 2004. 5 Research Associate, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Science at Seoul National University

2004. 5 - 2007. 9 Research Associate, National Institute of Toxicological Research at KFDA

2012. 6 - 2014. 12 Post Doctor, Wayne State University School of Medicine

2014. 12 - 2015. 2 Research Professor, College of Medicine at Pusan National University

2015. 3 - now Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy at Yonsei University

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In my laboratory, I am trying to develop a new drug which converts the bad adipose tissues into good ones to cure energy metabolism diseases. Especially, I am investigating the mechanism of converting normal (white) adipose tissues into brown adipose tissues. The major role of the white adipose tissue is energy storage, and it can sometimes cause obesity. On the other hand, the brown adipose tissue generates energy using mitochondria. This fundamental knowledge enables us to cure obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia that are derived from the imbalance between white and brown adipose tissue, and abnormal lipid metabolism.

The most representative research I conducted was the discovery of adipocyte progenitors which have a possibility of differentiating into both white and brown adipocytes. At my lab, we are now trying to control bipotential adipogenic differentiation through epigenetical mechanisms. In addition, we study interactions between adipocyte progenitors and immune cells such as macrophages, blood vessels, and neurons.

PROFESSOR

What did you study at the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA)?

I conducted a research on the toxicity evaluation methods in the National Institute of Toxicological Research at the KFDA after I earned my master’s degree at the Seoul National University. I created a cellular model used to monitor cardiovascular side effects such as arrhythmia for a year and a half. Also, I examined the safety and effectiveness of cardiovascular drugs in the Department of Drug Evaluation. Although I did not settle down there and decided to study abroad to achieve personal goals instead, it was a valuable experience in my career. I personally believe since the KFDA plays an important role in establishing medical policies, it is a very important and worthwhile work to do.

What inspired you to become a professor?

Have you ever considered giving up during the process? If you did, how did you overcome your hardship?

Whenever I talk about my decision to become a professor, I always mention my academic advisors.

Professor Changkyu Moon, who played a significant role in establishing the field of Hygienic Pharmacy, was my academic advisor when I was studying to get my master’s degree in pharmacy at Seoul National University. Thanks to him, I became interested in metabolic diseases, antiobesity, and anti-diabetes therapeutics, taking initiative in researching them. When I was studying at Wayne State University School of Medicine to receive my doctoral degree, I met Dr. James Granneman and conducted

several researches with him. Dr. James Granneman is so enthusiastic a man that he is still actively working on many researches and experiments in spite of his old age.

His great passion strongly inspired me, and I could feel a great sense of accomplishment when I verify hypothesis I developed. This feeling of accomplishment made me decide to be a researcher. After I came back to Korea, I worked as a research professor at Pusan National University, and there, Professor Jaeho Kim helped my research a lot. Thanks to these three academic advisors, I could set my ultimate goal specifically and I gain confidence in devoting my lifetime to research.

To be honest, I had once considered giving up my research when I was studying abroad. Not long after starting to study abroad, I was in the bad condition of health and it went even worse as time went on. Despite the fact that I was a foreigner who is not fluent in English and not so healthy person, my academic advisor Dr. James Granneman kept supporting me to focus on my study.

Thanks to him, I could concentrate just on my studies and eventually overcome the hardship.

Please give some advice to the pharmacy students.

I want to recommend pharmacy students to have ambitions rather than being too realistic about their future.

All of you are young, free and have infinite potentials.

You will become the leaders of the Korean pharmaceutical society in future. Therefore, I hope you to set high goals and do your best to achieve your goal. Finally, I hope you to have the chance to go through diverse experiences and develop broad perspectives besides studying hard for good grades. B

“Have ambitions rather than being too realistic about your future. All of you are young, free and have infinite potentials. You will become the leaders of the Korean pharmaceutical society in future.”

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INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

Do you need A Drug or a Narcotic How is narcotic abuse regulated in USA and south Korea Yulseung Sung

s.yulseung@yonsei.ac.kr

R

ecently, in the state of Colorado United States, a student passed away after consuming a ‘Marijuana Cookie’ (A dialect between teenagers and drug users implying an edible material that contains Tetrahydrocannabinol). This was a controversial incident to the American society as this tragic event occurred in a state that legalized the use of drug. Addressing this case, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) asserted the reasons to illegalize the use of drugs and strongly advocated to halt the legalization. However, Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) still claims that legalization of narcotics is needed to decrease the abuse of the black market. In consequence, drug problems are still a debatable issue in the United States. How about Korea? How is our country dealing with the drug problems? First and foremost, in Korea, drug issues are less publicized. Despite the lack of interest, for the past 6 months, 3370 people were arrested due to drug related crimes. Recently, as celebrity drug usage became an issue in Korea, the Korean public became increasingly aware of problems related to drug abuse. However, situations are still substantially different from that of the United States. The same cases nor the same crimes occur in two countries due to the difference in the ‘drug control policy.’

Narcotics are an addictive medication that affects one’s mood or behavior. Most of them are illegal to be used as it induces drowsiness, stupor, or insensibility, relieves pain, and euphoria (a feeling of exaggerated and unrealistic well-being). When a person takes a narcotic, it attaches to an opioid receptor in the central nervous system which decreases the perception of pain. The reason behind euphoria is the binding of the narcotics’ molecule to the receptors such as mu and sigma receptors which are related to a person’s perception of pleasure.

In America, according to a Korean student studying abroad John Kim (male, 23, Chicago)*, these dangerous drugs are relatively easy to obtain. He said “Narcotics to American teenagers are like cigarettes to Korean teenagers. I am saying that it is illegal but still quite easy to witness and obtain.” In the United States, drug abusers are linked with drug dealers who are a part of the black market or a gang group. As the drug spreads out amongst the American public, black market becomes more active.

Therefore, the U.S. government is trying to prevent misuse of drugs from the teenagers and to eradicate all black markets.

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John Kim added “I have experiences in using narcotics in the United States but whenever I come back to Korea, I cannot obtain any.” This is a primary reason why drugs are not that popular and not that much of a problem in Korea.

Actually, in 2002, Korea had more than 10,000 criminals related to drugs. These high rates are due to the gang groups that are the primary supply lines of illegal drugs in Korea. At least, Korea has low rates of teenagers involved in this issue. Nonetheless, Korea has to work harder and strengthen policies to cut the primary supply lines of drugs.

INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

Now how could America and Korea solve drug issues?

Office of National Drug Control Policy of America (ONDCP) stated that they consider drug problems as health problems. President Barack Obama himself leads the President’s Council on Counter-Narcotics, which is composed of the chair of ONDCP and other Domestic Associations. They aim to evacuate the illegal, misuse and trafficking of drugs in America. They focus on the theme of public health and safety, trying to save and guard their people from drugs. As some states have legalized the use of drugs for amusement, the American government is trying to stop illegal drug trafficking and crimes related to it. The strategy used by America is to treat addiction as a disease, not as a crime, and to prevent people from using drugs incorrectly. The United States also focuses on those who are trying to recover from disorders produced by drugs. In 2013, with the help of DEA, DHS, FBI, and so on, more than 30,000 criminals were arrested, and over 36,000kg of cocaine and 354,023kg of weed were confiscated. As USA enforces their regulations, the number of crimes is decreasing since 2008 but due to the legalization of drugs in some states, cases regarding overdose and death due to side-effects and abnormal behaviors triggered by such side-effects are uprising. The United States still has to fix these problems.

On the other hand, drug related issues are considered as a crime in Korea. The government has been treating drug abuse with legal bases. As Korea does not allow any

legalized use of drugs, the government does not regard drug abuse as a public health or safety issue. Korea wants drugs to be wiped out. The government proposed drug prevention lectures for teenagers as well as criminals.

Also, they have been carefully using a systemized program, the bar code system along with a physical lockage system, for tracking all drugs that have come into Korea. This is because the Korean government allows the use of drugs only for patients. Due to these strong domestic policies and efforts to extinct drug trafficking, in 2012, 10 criminal sects (224 people) were found by the police and 162 people were arrested. As the primary sources of drugs were extinct, crimes related to drugs drastically decreased.

All in all, as drugs are illegal in Korea, Korea strictly controls all drug problems, but the United States of America helps and supports those who have experienced damage from drugs as a part of the general public health policy.

The United States of America and Republic of Korea both had different backgrounds, so drug related crimes are totally different. As we did not discuss about the wrong or right about the legalization of drug uses, I will not mention any opinion about that, but still either way the government must have a way to control their domestic lines and trafficking of drugs. Both countries still lack the correct policy but they are definitely finding the best solution. B *The name of the interviewee has been modified

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NATIONAL ISSUE

Drug Delivery Service Why Is It so Problematic?

YoungJay Im

R

lim_91@naver.com

ecently some large pharmacies have received complaints constantly from other pharmacies for selling over-thecounter drugs. In response to these problems, the Korean Pharmaceutical Association and local public health centers have announced that they would put the drug deliver service under special care. At Jongno-gu, they convened the corresponding pharmacists to make a promise through voluntary eradication.

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Why will they use a delivery service?

What about different situations in other countries?

People buy drug through courier service not only because of its convenience but also because of its cheaper price. Comparing the price of drugs bought directly from pharmacies to that of drugs bought through courier service, it was found that customers who utilized courier services were able to buy the drugs at 30~50% discounted price. One of the notable causes is the difference in drug purchase price. Pharmacies purchase medical supplies from an online medicine mall called ‘PharmsNet’. Yet, the price of medicine varies on this web-site. Carefully examining the price and comparing it to the original price of the product, it is evident that the pharmacies sell drugs at relatively same price or at a slightly lower price. Thus, that price leaves no margin of profit.

In the United States, The Times nominated e-Pharmacy introduced by Pill-Pack Company as one of the greatest inventions of 2014. On this web-site, patients are asked to provide required information and prescription on the Internet so that the prescribed drugs can be delivered to their home. The patients are able to get refilled drugs every two weeks, and the professional pharmacists who work for Pill-Pack Company consult them over the phone or through online web-site. The Parcel service combined with prescription refill system has accumulated significant popularity in the United States.

THE BLUE VANGUARD

NATIONAL ISSUE

However, pharmacists in South Korea are reluctant to make decision based on the case of the United States because geographical environment of South Korea is apparently different from that of the United States. Since South Korea is rather a geographically small country compared to the United States, patients could easily obtain drugs that they need at a local pharmacies. However, if the drug delivery service provided by certain major pharmacies and hospitals becomes a major pharmaceutical service in Korea, it would eventually jeopardize those local pharmacies with less power, ultimately causing an inevitable inconvenience to patients.

How does the regulation work in a current society?

Face-to-face sales is required under the pharmaceutical affair law. If someone sells drugs at a location other than pharmacies, three years of imprisonment or fine of 30 million won and one month of probation can be enforced.

An official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare said that, for whatever reason, drug delivery is an illegal activity and they will strengthen supervision on related matters.

I guess the pharmacists who sell drugs illegally by courier tend to display inherent selfishness disregarding the needs of others. We should remember that selfishness of some pharmacists who are not concerned about patient’s health will result in the crisis of the entire pharmaceutical society. Also, patients should be guaranteed to the right to use medicines safely through medication counseling of pharmacist. B

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NATIONAL ISSUE

The Workout Supplement: Is It Safe?

Chihyun Kim

chihyun4@naver.com

H

ave you ever been attracted to a celebrity who has a perfect body figure? Or have you ever imagined yourself having the muscular physique? These days, people are having more and more interest in making a fit body. The desire to make a balanced body is not only for the celebrities anymore, but also for the common people. However, most people say that they can not find extra time to work out because of their busy working schedules and social gatherings. Some even find a bad solution in their own way: the workout supplement. They believe the magic of supplements can grant the perfect body to them, even though they do not spend their time at a fitness center.

Who need workout supplements?

Workout supplements mainly consist of proteins and carbohydrates, and the types of supplements are divided by the ratio of the two nutrients.

Workout supplements are essential to those who need special attention on these nutrients: body builders stretch their limit in quantity of exercise, so a general diet is not enough, and patients who have nutrient deficiencies must take workout supplements to balance the nutrition levels. Supplements with high contents in protein strengthen the damaged muscles of body builders who often get injured from high intensity workouts. But these days, people who do not necessarily need to take workout supplements are taking them and are faced with side effects.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

NATIONAL ISSUE

The side effect of workout supplement

There are two main reasons why workout supplements can damage people’s health. First, high protein supplements can leave surplus nutritions in blood. The human circulatory system sends the remaining protein to the liver after metabolism. Then, the liver breaks the protein into nitrogenous waste product, and it goes throughout the kidney in a form of urine.

This process is called as a “Deamination.” Too much of the deamination consequentially exhaust the liver and kidney. It increases the liver somatic index, which can develop complication diseases. Furthermore, protein surfeit increases the level of LDL(Low Density Lipoprotein), known as bad cholesterol.

This can lead to adult diseases such as hyperlipidemia, heart disease and hematosis.

The second reason of the side effects lies in specific components contained in some workout supplements. For example, creatine in a few supplements increases the level of a male sex hormone, DHT(Dihydrotestosterone), which might induce one’s hair loss. Another example is steroid. Steroid helps our body to synthesize proteins and develop muscles explosively. However, it can cause sexual disfunction and sterility by decreasing the levels of male sex hormones. In spite of these side effects, some people still consume steroid supplement to develop muscles in a short term and it can bring serious health problems.

It is not true that all supplements have side effects. However, the excessive desire to make a perfect physique in a short period of time without enough training and effort can make all supplements poisonous. We should not forget that the intrinsic goal of making a balanced body is to maintain our health. To achieve this goal, we should always remember that “slow and steady wins the game” and should form a habit of regular work out. Only when you think that you had an intense workout but still feel like you need more muscles, that is when the workout supplement can help you. B

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COLUMN

Unexpected Use of Drugs in our Daily Life Jinha Park

jinahz0812@naver.com

D

id you know coke was a drug for headache? Or, have you ever heard that sugar was regarded as a drug for toothache? Like them, some drugs, that we are familiar with, are used differently from original purpose. They can be applied to several diseases by having an unexpected effect with their own function. Some of these drugs are : Viagra, Botox, and Minoxidil.

In 2005, a doctor saved a premature baby who was in a dangerous condition by prescribing Viagra which is known for a medicine of sexual impotence. The baby had some problem in circulation system caused by premature heart and lung. The heart and lung could not provide sufficient oxygen to cells in body. Surprisingly, Viagra expanded the baby’s capillary and increased the blood flow. There was a significant improvement in the baby’s condition. After Viagra was proved to have an efficacy at expanding blood vessel clinically, it was approved by FDA as a medicine of high blood pressure.

There is another case that Viagra is used differently from its original purpose. It was taken by a 4-year-old girl who has a risk of the heart attack because of congenital problems. The medicine prevented the heart failure by increasing the heart blood flow. She became free from the risk of the heart attack by just taking Viagra every day.

Like these cases, Viagra is used not only for impotence, but many diseases related to circulation system such as heart failure, heart attack, high blood pressure, apoplexy, angina and so on by increasing blood flow.

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Another example is Botox. In the early 1970s, Botulinum toxin was originally used for the restriction of muscle contraction around eyelids. The toxin binds to the receptor of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter at neuromuscular junction, so it blocks muscle contraction.

Based on this biological discovery, Botulinum toxin has been used to correct the squint or to cure diseases related to muscle and nerve. Then, in 1987, Canadian ophthalmologist and dermatologist accidentally found that Botulinum toxin injected in a patient’s forehead removed his wrinkles. They demonstrated the application of the toxin as cosmetological use. It anesthetizes the facial expression muscles and prevents from getting wrinkles.

COLUMN

Furthermore, Botulinum toxin now also plays a role as a medicine for excessive sweating treatment.

It blocks acetylcholine receptor in the sweat gland.

In addition, according to recent studies conducted by Belgian doctors, Botox can be helpful in the anticancer treatment. It works on the muscles of the blood vessel linked to a cancer tissue and makes the blood vessel wider temporarily. It helps the anticancer drugs arrive at the cancer tissue easily. This anticancer therapy is now on animal experiment stage and is expected to be a useful medicine in the future.

Last but not least, Minoxidil is also a good example that has been used differently from original purpose. It was developed as a drug which reduces blood pressure for high blood pressure patients. However, at the clinical test of this drug, it was found that some hairs grew evidently from the patients face who took the drug. After this accidental discovery, Minoxidil was approved as a medicine of hair loss by FDA in 1979. When applied on the skin, this drug works on the epithelium of hair follicle and the peripheral blood vessels. It increases the blood flow around the follicle and provides nutrients.

As a result, the drug promotes the growth of hair and is the only liniment among the hair loss medicines.

In conclusion, there are several cases that the key effect of a medicine is discovered by chance. Therefore, scientists should not overlook any result which is not predicted. It is necessary to be sensitive to subtle changes in results of experiments and to have flexible mind for all possibilities. Also, they should study how to apply the mechanism of drugs to treatment for other diseases.

These attitude will be helpful to catch unexpected roles of drugs which can save lives or upgrade our daily life.

B

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COLUMN

From the Past to the Present : The Development of Antipsychotic Drugs HyunA Lee liana93@yonsei.ac.kr Do you know that the history of the antipsychotic drugs is quite short? At the past, the people who had mental diseases like schizophrenia were treated just like they were mad or cursed man. Therefore, the patients had to be just confined in mental hospitals. However, with the development of neuroscience, the cause of mental diseases was found. Developments of antipsychotic drugs were followed. Finally, the quality of patient’s lives was improved by the use of mental disease drugs. I want to introduce about the historical background of mental disease treatment, the difference between two major antipsychotic drugs, and recent change in point of view for using mental disease drugs.

Historical background of mental disease treatment In 20th century from early to middle, majority of drugs for mental disease were introduced. Before the development of these drugs, there were no distinct solutions for the mental diseases except electric shock therapy. There was a predisposition to emphasize psychological and social environmental aspects other than scientific method in treating those diseases. However, after initial antipsychotic drugs were made, biological study of brain was rapidly progressed. The optimistic expectation of finding a brain’s complicate function rose.

Many researches were done and people believed that the mechanism of Alzheimer and Parkinson disease which are representative brain disorders would be discovered. The doctors started to use drugs from schizophrenia to bipolar depression as the first treatment.

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However after the drugs were widely prescribed to the patients, the unexpected side effects were reported.

Specifically classical antidepressant like imipramine and amitriptyline showed dizziness, gaining weight, and muscle tremor although they alleviated the symptoms of depression. Even though patients who took antidepressant should be able to do daily activities unlike schizophrenia, they were interrupted in living their lives. Accordingly, they had to drop school or their job during treatment.

There were numerous people who had trouble in adapting to their lives after they left hospital. For this reason, at that time there was a misconception that if a patient took a medicine for mental illness, they became an idiot or addicted to it for entire their life.

COLUMN

Two types of Antipsychotic drugs The side effects mentioned above is related to the kinds of antipsychotic drugs. The drugs are largely divided into two groups by generations according to what side effects they have and the receptors where they target on. The first generation antipsychotic drugs like chlorpromazine and imipramine used as anti-depressant drugs were firstly.

However, they mostly cause extrapyramidal symptoms which are complex problems of several brains area. They cause thirst, sleepiness, gaining of weights, constipation, and disorders of muscle tone.

In contrast, the second generation drugs like fluoxetine called in code name ‘Prozac’ don’t have these extrapyramidal symptoms but only have mild headache. This is because the mechanisms of two kinds of drugs are different. The problems of depression are caused by depletion of dopamine which is one of the neurotransmitters, so drugs are used to act on dopamine receptor thereby blocking the receptor to increase the dopamine level. There is a difference between two kinds of drugs acting on receptors. The first generation drugs non-selectively act on receptors. They act on other normal receptors like norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and histamine simultaneously. So they cause lots of side effects. However, second generation drugs selectively act on dopamine receptors, so they don’t have other side effects. As a result, two kinds of drugs mentioned above are used differently nowadays. The first generation drugs are used as supplemental drugs for depression and the second generational drugs are used as independent drugs for depression.

Boundary between normal and abnormal : Do we really need to be treated?

These days, people begin to take drugs for relatively light mental diseases like social phobia, avoid personality disorder and Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder(PMDD).

These were not considered as mental diseases but natural phenomena. This tendency may be due to the characteristic of mental diseases and the cultural or commercial stimulation by mass media.

The mental disease is quite different from other diseases because the mental disease is hard to diagnose strictly.

There has been always controversy among psychiatrist about how to categorize mental diseases and distinguish

between normal and abnormal. We could not identify the diseases in x-ray film or blood test results.

Also, recently there are many people who want to treat their shyness or unsocial personality by drugs. This means people started to regard their problems not as a personal characteristic but disease that has to be treated.

This kind of social climate could be due to marketing of pharmaceutical company for selling drugs. In intense competition between original drugs and new drugs, pharmaceutical companies started to sell the diseases before selling the drugs. The drug for social phobia, Paxill is the representative example of this marketing strategy of GSK. The company firstly educated doctors that social phobia could be diagnosed and treated by drugs. Also, using a mass media, they advertised the needs to treat their shyness. For example, some famous celebrity said in Oprah Winfrey Show that in the past he had suffered from his shyness extremely, but now he realized that was some kind of disease. In this ways, the public got familiar with the social phobia. As a result, after finally released the Paxill in market in 1999, the company successfully sold the drugs accomplishing sales billion dollars in early 2000.

In conclusion, there were numerous changes in the area of psychiatry due to development of mental disease drugs.

The patient’s quality of lives was far more improved than before by gradually overcoming the side effects of drugs and misconception about the drugs. However, with using of these drugs, people get started to use some drugs to treat their illnesses not considered as an illness in the past.

Therefore, we should put more effort in guiding people use mental disease drugs correctly. Also, although the history of mental disease drugs is relatively short, the effects of the development of mental disease drugs were tremendous and there are still unknown areas in our brain to be further investigated. B

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REVIEW PAPER

CHECKPOINT INHIBITOR Current state of anticancer pipeline development And currently focused anticancer agent

Minjun Lee

mjlee1700@gmail.com

Abstract Cancer is a disease that body cells begin to divide without stopping and spread into surrounding tissues.

This paper will investigate anticancer drug pipelines that are developed by top 50 pharmaceutical companies and top 25 biotech companies. By comparing characteristics of anticancer drug pipelines such as target diseases and mechanism of action, pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies are both developing chemical-drug pipelines of two types of companies, pharmaceutical companies usually developed pipelines that mainly target solid tumors such as non-small cell lung cancer ad breast cancer. Moreover biotech companies usually develop pipelines that mainly target hematological malignancies such as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma and chronic lymphoblastic lymphoma.

T-cell receptor

Among these anticancer agent pipelines, immuno therapy agent has been under focus nowadays. Cancer immuno therapy utilizes the host’s immune system to attack the tumor cells. Cancer immuno therapy utilizes the host’s immune system to attack the tumor cells.

Cancer immuno therapy includes cancer vaccine therapy, cytokine therapy and monoclonal antibody (mab) therapy.

But among these, the checkpoint inhibitor has gained a new spotlight in mab therapy. Checkpoint protein on the cell surface blocks T-cell activity by binding their receptor on an immune cell surface. By inhibiting their interaction between checkpoint protein and their receptor may allow the T-cells to attack the tumor. It will open a new horizon to cancer treatment. B Antigen

PD-1 Inhibitor

FULL TEXT PD-1

PD-L1 Anti PD-L1

Mechanism of action of checkpoint inhibitor (PD-1)

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

PHARMACY

A visit to a ‘smart’ pharmacy SooJung Kim

helenkim1212@naver.com

M

y recent visit to a pharmacy was the first one in a very long time. Having seen a doctor about a cold, I moved on to the pharmacy. At there I was hypnotized by how everything had become so fast and convenient. As soon as I handed over the prescription, the information about my copay and total cost popped up on the screen before me. I was able to prepare my payment while the prescription was being filled. It is only fair to inform a patient of what each of the costs is about. In the past, however, it was common for patients to ask for their total cost orally, and they tended not to inquire more. The paper envelope I received included such information as:

I

t included not only the names of the drugs but also their pictures, so that the patient would be able to visually recognize them. The detailed effects of the drugs like painkilling and sedating were also written.

Instructions for drugs like “possibility of gastroenteric trouble,” “take with enough water,” “no smoking” and “no alcohol” were put as symbolized pictures. What is more, directions on storage such as “keep away from moisture” and “keep in cool places” were also written. This is an envelope type of medication instructions. Instruction from the pharmacist herself was not very thorough, but the envelope filled with a vast amount of information was enough to comfort the patient. Almost everything I would have wondered about as a patient was already there.

Many patients tend to forget what they are told and find it confusing to recognize different drugs. In this sense, the verbal and graphic information on the envelope serves as a very effective and convenient way for both the pharmacist and the patient.

At the bottom of the envelope, there was a QR code for smart phone applications. Even if I forget the given directions, I will simply be able to use the application to check them. It also holds the records of the patient’s past prescriptions, so patients can be warned of possible drug interactions and check their health state. This collaboration of IT technology and pharmaceutics is a stunning development in today’s era of technology. B

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PHARMACY

Pillpick :

The Robot Pharmacist Seungjin Lee

H

seungjin0801@naver.com

ave you ever imagined a robot working in a pharmacy? University of California San Francisco Medical Center

installed robot system to deliver proper drugs for proper patients at proper time. Automated dispensing and packaging system is becoming more common due to the increased public concerns about medication errors.

Robot is known to have less possibility of making mistakes. As a result, Pillpick system, a robot pharmacist, is now placed in more than 20 hospitals in the United States. However, there are some concerns that it is threatening status of human pharmacist.

Introduction of the PillPick system This Pillpick system is designed to package, store and dispense medications. When doctors treat their patients and prescribe drugs, pharmacists identify the interaction between drugs. After the prescription is confirmed, robot receives it in a digital format. As the name of the robot ‘Pillpick’ infers, a robot arm picks up corresponding pills placed in the storage. Then the pills are wrapped in plastic bags with bar-code which has information about who the patient is and when to take the drug. Pills are connected to a Pickring which can easily inform the patients of the exact time to take medicine. In addition, the robot can find out inappropriate drugs to sort out or replace them with the right ones.

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Sequence of Pillpick system 1. Pharmacist checks medication 2. Technician loads pill canisters or other drug typologies 3. PillPick picks and packages pills 4. Discards broken, duplicate or incorrect medications 5. Transfers unitdoses to storage 6. Receives order 7. Picks and verifies unit doses 8. Assembles PickRing 9. Dispenses PickRing 10. Technician transfers PickRing to patient floor

PHARMACY

Advantages of the PillPick system Pillpick, the robot pharmacist, helps hospitals to prevent the possibility of medication errors during dispensing and packaging ultimately increasing the safety of patients. This automated system minimizes handling by human, reducing the possibility of human mistake, increasing accuracy and efficiency. Accuracy of robot is 99.9%, so pharmacists do not need to check again. As a result, pharmacists can more focus on clinical aspects of treatment and patient care, not on manufacturing process. Furthermore, the robot minimizes drug waste, so we can have a costbenefit effect in the long term.

Disadvantages of the PillPick System However, Pillpick system has some disadvantages. Patients need to be in stable condition, but robot noise can irritate patients and pharmacists. It also costs a lot to install the Pillpick system. Therefore, it may cost more than hiring people. Moreover, breakdown of Pillpick can be a serious problem. It takes about 2~3 hours for mechanician to fix the robot.

Therefore, human pharmacists have to wrap and check the medicine one by one when the robot is under repair. It will be a really time consuming task.

Some people say that pharmacists can spend the saved time by robot pharmacists on checking the condition of patients and discussing with doctors. However, others concern that robot pharmacists would replace the function of human pharmacists. Human pharmacists should consider it seriously. They have to understand the feeling of patients and do the sociable things that robots are not able to do. When human pharmacists pay attention to the wish of communities and societies in addition to their own classical tasks such as medication counseling or effort on preventing side effects, they can take back their pharmaceutical region and reputation from the robots. B

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STUDENT CLUB

With PPL, Feel, Hear and Understand Pharmaceutical Industry

Interview With Pharmaceutical-Marketing Student Club Songhee Min

P

songheemin@yonsei.ac.kr

PL (Pharmaceutical marketing Professional Leaders) was established by pharmacy students who want to learn about sales & marketing of pharmaceutical industry. The Blue vanguard attended the PPL’s last open seminar where professionals from various pharmaceutical fields gave a speech on Marketing, Clinical Research Associate (CRA) and Research & Development (R&D). This speech gave valuable information about pharmaceutical fields and help pharmacy students to decide what to do in the future. In addition, Blue vanguard had an interview with one of PPL members and heard about what PPL does and what the main advantage of being a PPL member is.

What kinds of activity does ‘PPL’ do?

During the semester, PPL members gather every other week to enlarge their knowledge of marketing strategies by studying practical cases and participating in marketing contests. During the vacation, they work on a marketing project which requires creative drug-marketing ideas of a pharmaceutical company. They make a presentation in front of the pharmaceutical company’s marketing professionals to get feedbacks or comments. PPL already received various projects including ‘Tylenol’ from Johnson & Johnson and ‘Easyderm’ from Daewoong for last two years.

What is the main advantage of being a PPL member?

PPL members can practice their application of marketing. As a pharmacy student, it is hard to have an opportunity to apply the marketing strategy to real products, while PPL members can participate in marketing projects and get a direct feedback from professionals.

During the session, they can enhance the knowledge of the medicine and understand how pharmaceutical marketing works in real. Also, since PPL members can meet marketing professionals who actually work in the pharmaceutical field, they can personally ask about their job or whether the work suits their personality.

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What are some difficulties on managing PPL and what is PPL’s next goal?

The main difficulty on managing PPL is to form connection with pharmaceutical companies. Since none of PPL members have graduated yet, they have to contact pharmaceutical companies directly, and they do not always get the positive response. However, 18 senior members will graduate the pharmacy school this year, and they are willing to help operate PPL. PPL hopes to produce leaders on pharmaceutical marketing fields by keeping studying medical trends and marketing strategies. Also, they have a blog named ‘3 Minutes Pharmaceutical Marketing’ and held an open seminar in order to provide high quality information of the pharmaceutical industry.

STUDENT CLUB

Pharmaceutical marketing Professional Leader’s Open Seminar

Marketing - Beyond Pills, Bring Values Pharmaceutical marketing is the last step of the development of new medicine. For example, over the counter drugs are advertised through media which target customers, while prescription drugs are directly advertised to doctors with scientifically basis. To be a great marketer, the most important thing is to understand a differentiation strategy. Every product is not so different, but it can be specialized by product differentiating. A good marketer knows how to develop this strategy and offer unique attributes that are valued by customers. If a pharmacist is involved in the marketing team, he or she is expected to provide an insight about the medicine based on the pharmaceutical knowledge they learned such as Microbiology, Pathology and Pharmacology basis.

In addition, it is recommended to have an experience on sales department in order to build a background on medicine marketing.

Research & Development Global pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis, Roche, and Pfizer invest more than 20 % of their budgets in R&D, so they can maintain their high standards on drug development market. Although Korean pharmaceutical companies recently raised the rate of investment in R&D, it is still about 10 % of their budgets. In addition, the process of drug development takes about 9 years in total, 6 years for biomedicine and 3 years for modified drugs.

Therefore, pharmaceutical companies in Korea are more focusing on the development of incrementally modified drugs and generic drugs. Just a few months ago, Sivextro developed by Donga-ST has been approved by the FDA. To be involved in R&D department, a master’s degree is required, because high level of knowledge is needed to understand the complex process of drug development.

Clinical Research Associate Clinical Research Associate (CRA), also called a clinical monitor, is a health-care professional who performs activities related to the medical research, especially clinical trials. Their main task is to monitor the process of clinical trials. In detail, they assure the compliance with a clinical trial protocol, check clinical site activities, make on-site visits, and communicate with clinical research coordinate. CRA assure that the clinical trials are proceeding under ethical and safe conditions.

Therefore, it is required to have a wide knowledge of clinical practices and regulations. Since most of the regulations were established in Western countries, it is necessary to have high level of English skill and have a sense of logical thinking.

As written, PPL’s goal is to produce leaders of pharmaceutical marketing. They offer chances to participate in marketing projects and hold open seminars with professionals from various fields. If you are interested in marketing field, do not hesitate to join the PPL. B

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EPILOGUE & EDITOR’S NOTE

BLUE VANGUARD THE

Editor-In-Chief

Songhee Min

Journalists Bokyoung Kim Heejo Lee Sungkyung Lee Woohyuk Choi

“

Vice Editor-In-Chief

HyunA Lee

Soojung Kim Designers Hyunji Park Chihyun Kim Yeonhee Cha Jinha Park Ji hoon Jeoung Yulseung Sung Seungjin Lee Youngjay Im

r o t i [Ed

] . . s say

Hello, everyone. Thank you for reading the 8th edition of The Blue Vanguard magazine. In this edition, we deal with various fields including healthcare information, national & international issues, and interview with many different pharmaceutical professions. This time, all the reporters were allowed to choose the topic of article they are interested in to improve the quality of our magazine contents. I would like ­to express gratitude to our advertisers Lee Sungjoo of Sanofi, Ko Kihyun of RB Korea, and Sung Jonghyuk of Stemore, in addition to our supporters Prof. Han Gyoonhee and Prof. Jeong Jinhyun.

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O h m y H a i r !

O h m y H a i r !

W h e r e w e m a k e h a i r W h e r e w e m a k e h a i r

http://www.stemore.co.kr http://www.stemore.co.kr

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