The Blue Vanguard Vol.9

Yonsei Student Pharmacist

THE

BLUE

VANGUARD 2016

Summer

Vol. 9 04 PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY Bioneer, the Pioneer of Korean Biotechnology Industry 14 NATIONAL ISSUE A Report on MERS 16 COVER STORY Solid Potential of Korean Pharmaceutical Businesses

CONTENTS 6

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Bioneer, the Pioneer of Storytelling Korean Biotechnology Pharmacist, Industry JaeHoon-Jeong

Your Pill Is Being Printed

Freshman and Graduate, Four Years Apart

Epilogue

A Report on MERS

A Spring Picnic with Professor JunJeong Choi

Solid Potential of Korean Pharmaceutical Businesses

A Revolutionary Change Communers; that 3D Printer will bring Pharmacy Student’s to the Pharmaceutical Volunteer Club Industry

Meet with Patent Examiner, Mihwa Kim

Experience At a Dry Lab

The World’s Most Expensive Drug

Editor’s Note 2016 VOL.9

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PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY

Bioneer,

the Pioneer of Korean Biotechnology Industry 1980–1984 BS, Chemistry, Seoul National University 1984–1992 MS & Ph.D., Chemistry, KAIST 1986–1992 Senior Researcher, Molecular Cell Biology, KRIBB 1992–Present President, BIONEER Corporation 2001–Present Vice-President, Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization

On January 2016, Blue Vanguard visited Daejeon to interview Mr. Han-Oh Park, the president & CEO of a distinguished biotechnology company Bioneer. In 1992, Park and his co-workers from KIST Genetic Engineering Center (which is now Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, KRIBB) started the company to produce domestic tools and technology for molecular biology. It was the very first bio-venture company in Korea and there was hardly any investment in venture companies in those days. The founding members had to borrow a small warehouse in Daejeon countryside and raise money from their monthly salaries and retirement funds to run the business. They sold geneanalyzing kits and gene-amplifying machines which they invented to biological scientists in Korea. Bioneer grew rapidly and finally attracted investments of 28 billion Won in early 2000s. Bioneer now has its own big factory and laboratory, manufacturing more than 100,000 kinds of innovative bioengineering products and conducting researches on the development of the next generation biomedicine.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

Woohyuk Choi

08choi31@naver.com

“Depending solely on the genetic engineering tools purchased from abroad is like fighting a war with only imported weapons.”

Park said it was not easy to sell domestic genetic engineering tools and diagnostics at first because everybody thought imported ones are incomparably better. However, Bioneer soon broke the stereotype by providing high quality domestic products at lower prices much quickly. Its first staple product was the real-time PCR which is now called ExiCycler™. It was the first real-time PCR machine in all of Asia and played a key role in detecting biological weapons during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. In addition, ExiProgen™ is a relatively recent invention of Bioneer Corporation. It is the world’s first fully automated protein synthesis kit. Researchers normally have to use microorganisms to produce stable and completely folded proteins in cells. This marvellous machine, however, easily manufactures well-folded proteins from hormones to antibodies. It can synthesize up to 16 proteins in a single run and even modify some of them to find out possible mutants that work better.

ExiProgen is now one of the flagship products of the company, being sold to numerous global pharmaceutical companies and researchers. Moreover, the pioneers invented ExiPrep™, an automated nucleic acid extracting system, and ExiSpin™ which provides a one-step spin-mix-spin technology. ExiPrep shows increased convenience, reproducibility, and reliability compared to the other DNA extracting machines on the market, while ExiSpin significantly saves the time that would otherwise have been spent in the laboratory by combining the functions of a vortexer and a micro-centrifuge.

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY

“SAMiRNA is a nino-sized single molecular RNAi therapeutic agent developed by Bioneer Corp.”

RNAi therapy, which is regarded as the next generation biomedicine subsequent to monoclonal antibody, uses siRNA/miRNA molecules to inhibit the expression of targeted gene by destroying specific mRNA molecules.

One of the major obstacles in the development of RNAibased therapeutics was siRNA/miRNA delivery. Alnylam and Isis, the leading companies of RNAi market, also had this delivery problem. They had to use this therapy only for the liver disease because most of the injected molecules move to the liver. SAMiRNA™, however, provides solutions for virtually all the major difficulties including this delivery problem. The secret is the Polyethylene Glycol(PEG) layer that surrounds the SAMiRNA nanoparticles. PEG helps the nanoparticles pass through the cell membrane so it can be easily delivered to the target area such as cancer cells and inflammatory cells. Thanks to this technology, Bioneer has just jumped into the market of third-generation anticancer drug that blocks the immune checkpoint. Furthermore, PEG physically blocks the siRNA and positively charged lipids that triggers the innate immune system. Assessed by MILLIPLEX Human Cytokine Panel, there were no cytokine induction in human peripheral blood mononuclear cell by the SAMiRNA. Using this novel RNAi prodrug technology, Bioneer is currently advancing clinical development of pipelines for the previously incurable diseases including Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis(IPF). It showed much higher efficacy than the results of FibroGen, the leader of IPF market, which uses monoclonal antibody as their therapeutic strategy. It seems quite obvious that antibody drug market has reached its limit and the era of RNAi therapeutics has arrived.

“Bioneer’s primary goal is to contribute to the human health by applying our core competencies in molecular biology.”

Bioneer’s role model is a global healthcare company ‘Roche’ whose operations span from diagnostics to pharmaceuticals. Roche has been acquiring many biotechnology companies and institutes such as Genentech and Boeringer Mannheim to use their technology and expertise in developing new biomedicines. Bioneer wants to do the same thing with their own SAMiRNA technology as well as their excellent genetic engineering instruments and proficiency. To do so, they need not only science majors but also pharmacists to go through the pre-clinical and clinical researching stage. Park advised that a pharmacist who wants to join Bioneer should be well prepared with basic knowledge of natural science such as physical chemistry and molecular biology. He strongly believes the one with a solid foundation can put up a high building. In the blink of an eye, the market cap of Hanmi Pharmaceutical exceeded that of almost every existing industry in Korea. People already know that bio and pharmaceutical industry will be the world’s biggest industry in the future. Bioneer can be a great workplace for pharmacists considering the fact that it is a leading biotechnology company in Korea opening up the biomedicine market of the country.

Bioneer Corporation is already widely known to the world as an innovative company that keeps developing numerous biotechnology tools. And now they are trying to shake up the global pharmaceutical market with the SAMiRNA. The therapeutic potential of the technology is outstanding because of its negligible toxicity and outstanding in vivo serum stability as well as its efficacy in target gene silencing. The data demonstrates exceptional therapeutic potential for a variety of cancers and incurable diseases such as Dengue, IPF, Keloids, and Psoriasis. If you are interested in the future biotechnology and the next generation of biomedicine, Bioneer will be exactly what you are looking for. B

2016 VOL.9

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PHARMACIST

Storytelling Pharmacist, Jaehoon-Jeong

E

Chihyun Kim

chihyun4@naver.com

ducator, food expert and pharmacist, these are not careers of three men but of one person, Jaehoon-Jeong. Before I entered the college of pharmacy, I had a special opportunity to attend a talk of him. He narrated his career during the lecture and I was surprised at his broad spectrum of job experience as a pharmacist.

He worked in Canada as a pharmacist for nearly ten years after graduating Seoul National University. Coming back to Korea, he established an academic institute, which aims to educate students who wish to be pharmacists in Canada. Not only as a pharmacist and an establisher of the institute, but as a writer, he built his career as a food expert by publishing the food theme books as well as appearing on the mass media. In addition, he is enthusiastic in giving lectures on diverse subjects ranging from food to the function of pharmacists. From his lecture that I attended, I found that the role of pharmacists is broader than my expectation and, thus, I was strongly motivated to become a pharmacist. After a year, I entered the college of pharmacy and had a second chance to meet him. During the second meeting, my first question was ‘How would you define your job?’. He answered; ‘I am a storyteller who tell the truth.’

STORYTELLING ABOUT PHARMACIST IN CANADA I asked him the difference of being a pharmacist in Korea in comparison to Canada.

He replied that the biggest difference is the range of opportunities available to pharmacists.

In Canada, pharmacists are involved in other professional fields. For example, pharmacists actively give feedbacks to the physicians regarding prescriptions. Pharmacists not only revise errors in prescriptions, but also inform his revision to the doctors without prior discussion.

The other example he provided was that they spend longer time with patients and offer detailed medication counseling. He showed an educational video of Canadian pharmacists consulting patients, which was used at his academy. In the video, a pharmacist identified that the cause of allergic symptoms of his patient was NSAID(non-steroidal anti inflammatory drug), which the patient was prescribed for his muscle pain several days ago. This video showed that patient with mild illness would rather go to the pharmacy than the clinic in Canada as pharmacists provide broad medical practices in such cases. Mr. Jeong said that he is lecturing this clinical counseling skills and pharmaceutical knowledge in his institute. He added that his clinical experiences in Canada were very helpful in his career to be a better pharmacist in Korea. Also, he said that he hopes more pharmacy students are interested in working abroad as a pharmacist, which helps improving their clinical skills.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

PHARMACIST

STORYTELLING ABOUT FOOD Jeong is an author of a food theme book, ‘Thinking Table’. Also as a food expert, he often appears on TV and radio programs to give lectures on diets. I wondered how he became a dietary specialist while he was working as a pharmacist. He explained that his interest in experimental cooking as well as motivation driven by food-engineering classes during pharmacy education inspired him to establish his career as a food expert. He made persistent efforts such as researching and reading texts about diets. Such effort made his pharmacist career collaborated with food specialist career. As a result, the effort he made became amalgamated with his profession as a pharmacist. In addition to the previous question, I was curious about his intention of using the subtitle of his book, ‘The untruth of kind food.’

Through the book, he aimed to inform the truth against rumors of foods by mentioning that foods have neither excellent medicinal effects nor critical toxicity. According to Mr. Jeong, selfishness of certain parties used incorrect information as a part of their marketing strategies. Therefore, he suggested the necessity of acute awareness when the public faces overflowing information.

STORYTELLING TO PHARMACY STUDENTS Working both as a pharmacist and a food expert, he lectures on two different themes depending on the audience; food related subjects for the general public, subjects about the function of pharmacists for pharmacy students, topics on strategic managements for professional pharmacists. I wondered why he was passionate to address useful information targeting pharmacy students and beginning-pharmacists especially. He valued the relentless change of the world, indicating the necessity of a change in the medical industry, if required.

Therefore, he highlighted the function of inspiring lectures to young pharmacists. He hoped that they would not obey conventional rules, but establish improved circumstances. I asked him for advices for pharmacy students facing issues in their career and academic concerns. He said that the concern with their future is a good indication for them and considered it to be natural. He added that more eagerness of pharmacists to expand their functions would contribute to the improvement of not only individual pharmacists, but also the pharmacy industry. He mentioned that a continuous enthusiasm for development is the driving force to develop positively. Although he already has several jobs and is constantly striving for professionalism of pharmacists, he still has an attitude like it of tourist. At the end of the interview, he introduced a poem entitled ‘A true travel’, by Nazim Hikmet, representing the attitude. The most impressing line was ‘When we don’t know any more where we are supposed to go, it’s the start where the true travel has just begun.’ It can be adapted to us as a meaning that we all are travelers as pharmacists and we should constantly try to find our own destinations. B 2016 VOL.9

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PROFESSOR

A Spring Picnic with Professor Junjeong Choi YoungJay Im

lim_91@naver.com

What are you working on now?

What is your research area?

Scholarship 1999 Bachelor of Medicine, Yonsei University 2008 Master of Medical Science, Yonsei University 2011 Board Certified Physician in Anatomic Pathology 2013 Certified Physician in Biomedical Informatics

I conduct a research on the tumor`s specific biomarker which could be a single protein, genetic information, group protein & route or complex information. I evaluate their effect on patient`s clinical pathologic characteristics and usefulness. Furthermore, I am trying to find the action of tumor developments and its mechanism during the treatment. I mainly use a tumor model of breast cancer tissues and glioblastoma. I specifically try to find different expressions of metabolites in various subtypes of breast cancers, which diversely act in the tumor microenvironment. Eventually I attempt to establish the therapeutic target of the breast cancer that has very different characteristics traditionally. To accomplish this, not only did I study traditional cell biology mechanism, but also tried multifaceted analysis on various categories such as pathology, genomics etc. Ultimately I hope to conduct a research on the diagnostic and therapeutic pathways that can be practically used to cure patients, which could have a crucial effect on paradigm about oncotherapy.

Career 1999. 3 – 2000. 2 Intern, ASAN Medical Center 2000. 3 – 2000. 12 Research Assistant, Department of Pharmacology, Yonsei University 2001. 2 – 2003. 12 Research Assistant, Department of Neurology, Washington University in St.Louis 2004. 5 – 2006. 2 Medical advisor, Astrazeneca Korea 2006. 9 – 2010. 8 Board Certified Physician in Anatomic Pathology & Research Assistant, Severance Hospital 2011. 3 – 2012. 2 Instructor, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine 2012. 3 – 2015. 2 Assistant Professor, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine 2015. 3 – now Assistant Professor, College of Pharmacy at Yonsei University

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

Figure 1 Alveolar soft part sarcoma.

PROFESSOR

What is biomedical Informatics?

Biomedical informatics is a study about rapidly changing information technology based on medical system`s high informatization and subdivison of medical science. Also, biomedical informatics focuses on wide range of medical field containing an effective management of rapidly growing clinical and biomedical data. Now, I focus on studying a large scale biomedical data analysis using microarray, sequencing base.

Are there any special motivation that you have a unique career, a professor of the college of Pharmacy even though you graduated from medical school?

The newborn, progressive, and well-organized atmosphere of Yonsei University College of Pharmacy motivated me to take part in the program. In addition, the recommendation of the professors who have more experience in the pharmaceutical along with my previous experience in this field have encouraged me to make such decision.

What inspired you to become a professor?

Have you ever considered giving up during the process? How did you overcome?

Surely, It`ll be a better way to go without failure. I experienced a lot of failure before I became a professor.

I think that it took a long time to figure out what I really wanted to do compared to others. The differing perspectives and feedbacks of others put me into slumps; however, I always put the best effort on every action that I took which discouraged me from regretting the decisions that I made.

I believe that the lessons that you learn from overcoming the hardships would undoubtedly benefit you that allows you to live your life to the fullest. What is important is that you need to take this challenge as an opportunity and really take advantage of it.

How is your life at Yonsei University College of Pharmacy?

I think I am still adapting to the new environment. I am building intimacy with the school and it is becoming stronger than before. Of course, there are some hardships still I have to endure. However, I appreciate the contribution of our brilliant co-professors that helps our relationship to become more solid and healthy. Senior professors are exemplary and my colleagues help me to adjust a new lifestyle.

Please give some advices to the pharmacy students.

Figure 2 Histopathologic examination of alveolar soft part sarcoma. This tumor was diagnosed as a malignant tumor.

I think it`ll be good to find a lifelong hobby when you`re a student. To me, it was a music that nothing in the world can take away from me. Music always energizes me after an exhausting day.

All of you can have various problems throughout your student life. However, most of them are not as serious as you may think. In addition, you don’t have to make much effort. Do not forget to value and focus on yourself.

Furthermore, as much as you are precious, the people around you are also important. Also, all of you are precious people whom your family loves. That’s why you have to respect your colleagues and society. Be happy! B

2016 VOL.9

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INTERVIEW

Meet with

Patent Examiner M

Mihwa Kim Heejo Lee

lhjo1990@yonsei.ac.kr

ost pharmacy students are worried about what to do when they graduate. In contrast to their various backgrounds, these worries are confined to hospital pharmacists, local pharmacists, graduate students, and so on. Therefore, in

this article, we aim to inform you about a patent examiner, which most students are unfamiliar with. Obviously, patent

examiners register patents. Criteria of the Intellectual Property Rights(IPR) registration include novelty and creativity.

To judge whether these are present, expertise of the relevant field is needed. For these reasons, some individuals that graduated college of pharmacy work in the pharmaceutical examination(PE) division of Korean Intellectual Property

Office as a patent examiner. In order to provide information about patent examiners, The Blue Vanguard visited the Korean Intellectual Property Office(KIPO) interviewing a grade 5 deputy director Mihwa Kim who works in the PE Division.

Q. How to become a patent examiner?

KIM : Patent examiners are appointed as a grade 5 deputy director. Most of the patent examiners are appointed through a special Ph. D employment program. Patent examiners are divided into many technical fields, such as chemistry, pharmacy, engineering. However, generally, most lack expert knowledge, so they cannot easily analyze an invention. Therefore, in order to fill in the gaps, KIPO opens the job for people with Ph. D degree. In addition, one can become a patent examiner by passing the public administration examination in technical post. Recently, KIPO recruits experienced civilian applicants through a special recruitment program.

BV(Blue Vanguard) : Would you explain what is an experienced civilian recruitment program?

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

KIM : Experienced civilian recruitment is an admission program for those who have a Masters degree and a working experience of at least four years at a pharmaceutic company as well as people with Bachelors degree who had a career as a manager for at least ten years.

BV : “Career as a manager� is quite ambiguous. Could you explain it more specifically?

KIM : Career as a manager includes, but is not limited to, examination of IPR as a special contractor in KIPO and quality manager in a pharmaceutical factory.

BV : I heard that patent lawyer can work as a patent examiner as well. Could you explain more about this?

KIM : Any individuals who have worked as a patent lawyer for few years can work as a patent examiner. The most important affair of the patent lawyer is the applicating the patent as a

INTERVIEW

representative and patent examiner’s duty is similar to this.

Q. Why did you decide to become a patent examiner?

KIM : After I received my Ph. D, I wanted to challenge in another field and I found the public pharmacist in KIPO. BV : Among the large field in public pharmacist, why did you choose KIPO? KIM : As a pharmacist, Patent is a difficult area to experience. Patent was a new and unknown area for me, so I decided to work in KIPO. Furthermore, I chose to become a patent manager to exploit my major expertise.

Especially, PE division is hard to approach except for pharmacy majors and I thought it was attractive.

BV : Did you have any adviser who recommended you to this field?

KIM : I had no help in deciding to work in KIPO, but I personally asked seniors about the specific operation.

In the past, it was hard to receive useful information, so introducing this field in The Blue Vanguard is extremely beneficial to people who want to be patent examiner.

Q. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a patent examiner?

KIM : In Korea, patent examiners have to register more IPR than European and American patent examiners. In addition, patent examiners’ name remains on the patent registration. Therefore, patent examiners must have a massive responsibility and a sense of duty. Also, patent changes constantly. So, I have to keep on studying new fields and applying this knowledge and sometimes this activity becomes an energizer for me. Moreover, patent examiners who have master’s or doctor’s degree have a habit of researching something, and when this habit is applied together to register IPR, it becomes more interesting.

BV : It is difficult to regard advantage and disadvantage separately.

KIM : It depends on one’s way of thinking. This job has many merits if you give good value for applying innovations into a good patent. Obviously, in order to have no regrets about the choice of your occupation, you should consider which value you consider more important.

BV : Is Patent examiner promoted like a normal salary man? If yes, how does the work change?

KIM : When promoted, we become a grade 4 director and directors’ work includes but is not limited to mediating patent dispute as well as examining patents. If I become promoted as a director, I want to work as a patent judge because I want to experience various fields, but not just yet.

BV : Then, your current goal is to keep working with high responsibility, isn’t it?

KIM : Yes. My current purpose is to make a great effort on guiding, examining patent so that they do not overlap with other patents, and presenting inventor’s creativity.

Q. Please give an advice for pharmacy students who want to become a patent examiner.

KIM : First of all, I want to congratulate your admission to the college of pharmacy. Excluding pharmacies and hospitals, there are still many positions you can engage.

Therefore, I want to specifically congratulate for earning the opportunity to work in various fields.

Patent examiner is a public official, so it will be a suitable profession if you have a sense of duty. I think public pharmacists’ sense of duty contributes majorly to develop the intellectual property in Korea. Moreover, patent examiners have the authority to examine and register the patent. This type of profession is rare. Moreover, if you have at least five years of experience as a patent examiner, the whole primary examination and a part of secondary examination for patent lawyer examination are exempted.

I assure you that patent examiner is a very attractive job for students who want to be a patent lawyer.

Therefore, consider carefully about the effort in becoming a patent examiner and the outcome that follows, then make a wise choice. B

Q. What is your goal in KIPO? KIM : As I worked in KIPO, I naturally felt great responsibility as a mistake in my job leads to patent dispute.

Therefore, my goal is to register excellent innovations as a good patent by updating my knowledge and information.

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INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

Your Pill is Being Printed FDA Approves the First 3D-Printed Drug Seungjin Lee

seungjin0801@naver.com

T

hese days, 3D printing seems to take over the world. It has existed since the 1980s, originally as a tool to produce affordable prototypes quickly for the manufacturing industry. Recently, 3D printing technology is extending its range to architecture and even healthcare fields. From artificial joints to living tissues, 3D printing is an innovative technology that can provide individualized cure to patients. This marvellous technology now took a leap forward in the pharmaceutical industry. Recently, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first 3D printed drug, Spritam, which is an oral prescription medicine approved for the treatment of certain types of epileptic seizures. Starting with Spritam, the 3D printer is expected to make medications customizable, and, therefore, more accurate and effective than ever before.

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What is 3D printing technology?

Zipdose, 3D Printing technology

3D printing, also called the additive manufacturing, is a process of making three dimensional solid objects from a digital file. In an additive process, an object is created by laying down successive layers of materials until the entire object is created. 3D Printing is a game changer that will affect almost every aspect of industry and our personal lives. Art has already changed. Artists create magnificent masterpieces by simply using 3D designing program that were unimaginable to be produced in the past by the traditional technology. Food is changing as well. You can simply select the food type on the screen and within a matter of minutes it will have laid down a base of pasta dough, followed by a filling which is encased in a top layer of pasta. And all you have to do is just heat it up in the microwave and then eat it. Physicians and medical technicians can use 3D printing to make prosthetics, artificial teeth, and bone grafts, as well as replicative models of organs, tumors, and other internal body structures when preparing for surgery.

The first FDA approved 3D-printed pill, Spritam manufactured by the American pharmaceutical company Aprecia, was made by a special process called ZipDose.

ZipDose technology is a proprietary platform that produces orodispersible formulations of highly prescribed medications that rapidly disintegrate within seconds. It is the first and the only drug-formulation platform that utilizes 3D printing. 3D printing binds layers of powdered medication together with an aqueous fluid to manufacture pharmaceutical products that are solid, yet highly porous.

ZipDose allows the active ingredients to be squeezed into a smaller space. So one small pill can have a relatively high dose of medication, meaning patients have to take much fewer tablets. ZipDose creates pills that instantly dissolve on the tongue with a sip of liquid, which can help those who have trouble in swallowing pills.

THE BLUE VANGUARD

INTERNATIONAL ISSUE

The benefits of 3D-printed pills The benefits of this process are too many to list here.

The drugs porous structure allows it to be dissolved much faster than the traditional pills. It immediately is dissolved in the mouth with only a sip of any kind of liquid. This capability provides relief for patients who have a difficulty swallowing, such as young children, seniors or physically impaired. Computational algorithms can take biological factors into account such as weight, age, kidney and liver functions to optimize the drugs dosage and ingredients, increasing effectiveness while reducing side-effects.

Patient-specific drugs can become true. Furthermore, in the far future, it might be possible for patients to 3D print their drugs at home. This means that patients can reduce waiting times and potentially saving lives in timesensitive situations.

However some critics are concerned about whether 3D printing technology will be used illegally for drug dealers and drug addicts. If you can print a drug for epilepsy, why not narcotics or ecstasy? Also, in the future when personal-sized printers are common from house to house, this technology could be misled and affect the printing process, ultimately producing a harmful product. This is all just imagination now, but it could become a reality problem once personal-sized printers hit the market. In the not too distant future, whether willing or not, 3D printing will change the world. Whether it would be a disaster or gift for patients is entirely up to us. B

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NATIONAL ISSUE

A Report on

MERS SooJung Kim

helenkim1212@naver.com

O

n December 23rd 2015, the end of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak was officially declared. Over 218 days, MERS had infected 186 people, leaving 38 of those dead. This case received much attention from the public, as it frankly showed the problems of the current public health system. MERS just started from a one single patient, due to the initial lame respondence, secondary and tertiary infections occurred. Soon schools were closed, rumors were spread, and people avoided crowded places. The entire nation was under the fear of MERS attack.

The beginning of MERS The patient-zero, the first Korean patient, is a man of age 68, who went to the Middle East area as a business trip. He returned via Incheon International Airport on the 4th of May. After about a week, from May 12th, he felt sick and started visiting hospitals. On his first and second visit, he did not mention that he had been to the Middle East areas. He carried on shifting hospitals, possibly spreading MERS virus. It was not until 20th of May that he was confirmed of MERS by the health authorities. The authorities then moved him to an isolation ward. The next day, the patient-zero’s wife showed several respiratory symptoms, and by gene diagnosis test, she was diagnosed for the same disease as her husband. Patient-zero’s hospital roommate from Pyungtaek-Sungmo hospital was diagnosed with MERS on the same day. Five days later, the wardmate’s daughter was diagnosed with MERS too. It is astonishing to know that she incidentally spent four hours with all first three patients in the same ward.

Now the importance of isolating possible contact makers came to the fore. By June 3, the number of subjects to quarantine exceeded to one thousand. One of the reasons was that the isolating standard was being too naive, causing the outbreak of many secondary infections at Pyungtaek-Sungmo Hospital. This caused one MERS patient to be unisolated.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

Not being informed of his current state, he went around freely and visited Samsung Seoul Hospital too.

The patient so-called “super spreader” brought about a lot of tertiary infected people. Starting from the 28th May with just three subjects, on the 17th June, there were 6,729 subjects to quarantine. Within less than a month, South Korea became no longer a safe place from MERS.

What could have been the problem?

MERS received exceptional attention from the public, and it was accepted seriously compared to the severity of the disease itself. Every year, hundreds of epidemic flus break out, but they did not give that much fear to people.

What could have been the difference? The answer I think is the way and the speed that MERS spread. People were certain that MERS started from just one patient, and that gives reasons for them to blame our disease management system. Also, with the access to vast amount of information, people could evaluate the government systems more specifically.

NATIONAL ISSUE

First issue of all is the government’s slow response.

The fact that it took long for the patient-zero of MERS to be confirmed caused the virus to spread more. Although at first the patient-zero did not mention that he had stayed at the Middle East Areas to his doctor, on May 18th, at Samsung Seoul hospital, the doctor asked to the government for the MERS test. However, this request was rejected at first, because Bahrain, where the patient stayed, was not included in the guideline on MERS. Secondly, the quarantine standard and the method that the government applied was another issue. These measures basically left the patients to themselves to quarantine, after explaining what has to be done. Lacking pressure, in reality, many patients were unaware of the severity of the situation or misunderstood what they had heard. This made people to use the public transportation to return to their homes for the isolation or go out to buy food while in quarantine. A businessman even pushed ahead on his business trip to China after having been included with a subject to quarantine. This incident almost brought a minor grudge between China, Hong Kong and Korea. Officials have no authorities to compel people to follow, so these events showed our current state, how much we are ignorant towards safety.

Thirdly, the absence of the control tower made the problem continue. There was no one in charge, which made all sorts of authorities pass on different information and announce wrong issues to the public. Looking at the authorities saying different statements, people could not help but lose trust. What is worse, similar situation had happened before, at Sewol ferry disaster. This was repeating the same mistake.

These problems happened because neither the patient nor the government was ready. We could say this was the first case in Korea, where the public started to show big interest in how quarantine works, how diseases spread and what we must do.

Learning from MERS It is important that we always learn from the past, so that we never repeat our mistakes. On August 13, the National Assembly asked the Board of Audit and Inspection for the MERS situation’s investigation and whether the government’s plan was appropriate. As the result, the Board counted three major points: poor initial response, lack of information sharing, and Samsung Seoul Hospital’s improper cooperation.

With inadequate initial response, epidemiologic investigation ended up poor too. Organizations held onto their information and did not reveal the hospital names and places the patients had been to the public.

Samsung Seoul Hospital was proved to be insincere to the epidemiologic investigation. Firstly, they knew the patient-zero had been to Pyungtaek Sungmo Hospital but did not report it to the medical team, causing the team to pay less attention to the 14th patient, who came from Pyungtaek Sungmo Hospital. This 14th patient ended up waiting at the emergency room, possibly transferring the virus of people. Secondly, Samsung Seoul Hospital was asked to submit the list of possible contact makers of 14th patient and made one which included 678 people.

However, the first list they handed over only had 117 people. After the whole MERS outbreak was organized, Gangnam Health Center accused Samsung Seoul Hospital of reporting possible patients late. Although the hospital was acquitted, this was a significant action as it was the first time the government accused a hospital.

Also, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was promoted to vice-ministry class to make them function as the control tower in situations like this in future. Reorganization of organization was carried out and Emergency Situation Center was added. B 2016 VOL.9

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COVER STORY

Solid Potential Of Korean Pharmaceutical Bussiness Now, the leading business in korea should be “bio-pharmaceutics” Yulseung Sung

s.yulseung@yonsei.ac.kr

H

uman Respect, Enthusiasm, and Challenging are the three factors that Hanmi Pharmaceuticals

(Hanmi Pharm.) pursuit. As its shape suggests,

the symbol of the Hanmi Pharmaceuticals signifies the

rising sun. Mr. Gwansoon Lee, the CEO of Hanmi, feels responsible for the national healthcare and quests Human

Respect through active Research and Development programs to cure people from outrageous diseases. Red

Color suggests the hot enthusiasm for R&D along with the challenging mindset to compete at the global stage.

Hanmi Pharm. has been the center of the Korean public’s

attention for a while now because of its astonishing

outcome. To prove it, the Technology Exportation by Hanmi was chosen to be one of the 9 most important issues in the Korean Pharmaceutical Field in 2015.

Before Hanmi Pharmaceuticals, Korean Pharmacy Industry has been focusing on generics. Generics are drug products that are comparable to a brand/reference listed drug product in dosage form, strength, quality and performance characteristics, and intended use. Korea has never manufactured a blockbuster class new medicines.

Korea does have 13 medicines that have been approved

by FDA. These 13 drugs have never shown positive profits and due to its failure, Korean Pharmacy Firms invest more and more for generics manufacturing and invest less and less for new medicine development. On the other hand, not even a country, just one firm, Norvatis invests over 10,000,000,000,000 ₩ for Research & Development for 1 year. According to DailyPharm, the amount of money that Korea invest for new medicine’s Research & Development is only 8,000,000,000,000 ₩. The situation is not good.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

Fortunately, thanks to Hanmi Pharmaceuticals, most of the Korean Pharmaceutical Companies have changed their motto and aims to invest more on new medicine development. As many already know, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals have succeeded in exporting new medicine technology to global pharmaceutical companies. In March, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals signed an exportation compact with Eli Lilly that was worth about 780,000,000,000 ₩. In the following July and August, Hanmi won another exportation compact that included the development and commercialization rights with Boehringer-Ingelheim for a 3rd generation lung cancer medicine (HM61713). These achievements surprised the Korean society in that major companies started to switch their major products and the stock market price for Hanmi Pharmaceuticals augmented outrageously.

COVER STORY

This compact worth at least 850,000,000,000 ₩ excluding the 10% royalty that the firm will receive for every sell. Hanmi Pharmaceutical has developed a technology that inhibits the signal transduction cascade related to the cancer cell growth. This new target shows less adverse effects and the cancer cell’s tolerance to original lung cancer medicines. This kind of outcome was never shown in Korea and the secret key and the basic reason why Hanmi Pharm. has succeeded is actually told by themselves. “We have been investing over 20% of our sale for R&D for about 10 years now. We believe the bearing fruit of 80,000,000,000 ₩ worth of Research and Development is being produced.”

Hanmi Pharmaceuticals have been achieving numerous intellectual properties and many technology sales have been made since 1985. In 1985, third generation cephalosporin antibotic, Cefotaxime, was invented by this company. It was the nation’s first Cefotaxime API development and this drug was the first drug to be approved in China (1992). Following the amazing achievements from the early days, New synthetic process of Cefriaxone was found by Hanmi Pharm. They gained the honor of transferring the nation’s very first technology which was the first EU-GMP acquisition in 1989.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical’s vicious speed of development began in 2011. Hanmi Pharm. licensed out Oral Discovery platform technology (also known as ORASCOVERY) to Athenex (KINEX) Pharmaceuticals for worldwide excluding Korea and Japan. A year later, co-development and commercialization agreement was held with Spectrum for the Long-acting GCSF based on LAPSCOVERY technology which is continously being developed and innovated. Last year, they have made a full plan to step up to the global phase 3 study. In 2013, Hanmi Pharmaceutical did not only invented four new drugs but also made Korea’s very first joint co-development and sales with Sanofi-Aventis Korea. Improved generic version of Fenofibric Acid, Fenocid Capsule was made so that it can be taken with or without food so that triglyceride level is reduced. Anti-inflammatory drug for gastroenteric disorder Naxozol was a new combinational drug in NSAIDs and PPI class. Korea’s first Levocetirizine along with pseudoephedrine isomeric complex,Cossac-L tablet, was improved to show twelve hours of continuous effect.

Rovelito tablet is a new combinational drug for hypertension/hyperlipidemia that was agreed to be co-developed with Sanofi-Aventis Korea. This was innovational as it was the very first ARB and Statin combination fixed dose drug. Hanmi did not stop here. In 2014, they licensed out Pan-HER inhibitor, Poziotinib, to Luye Pharmaceuticals which is from People’s Republic of China excluding Hong Kong and Macau.

In 2015, last year, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals made the most achievement every, seven successful agreements.

First of all, 20 million US dollar worth strategic investment in Allegro in United States was made for the collaboration to develop and market retina therapy LUMINATE. As a positive outcome from 2014’s investment in R&D, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals licensed out Pan-HER inhibitor, Poziotinib, to Spectrum Pharmaceuticals for worldwide except Korea and People’s Republic of China. In this case, they were even planning for a co-development system with National OncoVenture by government funding. Third, Hanmi licensed out BTK Inhibitor, HM71224, to Eli Lilly for Worldwide excluding Korea, Taiwan, and People’s Republic of China including Hong Kong. EGFR Mutant Selective Inhibitor, Olmutinib, was licensed out to Boehringer Ingelheim. Quantum project which was a discovery project of Long-Acting Diabetes Drug was licensed out to Sanofi for Worldwide with the option to co-commercialize in Korea and China. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which is also known as Johnson and Johnson, licensed in the Long-acting GLP-1/Glucagon Receptor Dual Agonist, HM12525A for worldwide except for Korea and China. Last but not the least, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals licensed out an EGFR Mutant Selective Inhibitor, Olmutinib to ZAI Lab from China including Hong Kong and Macau.

These are the achievements that Hanmi Pharmaceutical has made throughout their forty year history. 2015 was their best year and they were extremely excited about how successful they were. Seven achievements were something noticeable in the pharmaceutical field and these trades were the bearing fruits of 80,000,000,000 ₩ worth of Research and Development by Hanmi Pharmaceuticals. This agains signifies the importance of Research and Development and this result has made even the government to pay attention to this field.

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COVER STORY

On the 17th of February 2016, President Keun Hye Park held the 9th Korean External Trade Organization conference at the Blue House. Among the enterprisers, it was always interesting where the President sits. To clarify how important this is, Presidents always sat next to the person that the government will be investing and caring. There were people from LG, Samsung, and so on to represent Essential-Consumer Goods, New Material Goods, ICT, but this year, on the 9th KETO conference, President Park sat next to the CEO of Greencross, Byeong Gun Lee. He was invited to the conference to represent Healthcare service now in Korea. This happening is analyzed that the government is planning to support the Pharmacy Industry. And 9 days later, on the 26th of February 2016, government has announced their “R&D Masterplan for Pharmacy Industry.” The government officer who was concerned said “To support the revolutionary companies with the idea of new medicines is the primary aim of this masterplan. We will be increasing our funding and government grants for new medicine development.”

* Person on the right is the president of Republic of Korea, Keun Hae Park. Person on the left is the CEO of Greencross Korea, Byeong Gun Lee. This photo was taken on the 9th Korean External Trade Organization. The president is giving a speech about where Korean External Trade is heading to and should be heading to.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

With this kind of situation, Hanmi Pharm already made plans for their next move. They are participating in Quantum Projects (New medicine for Diabetes and Obesity), Bio-Medicine Development Project through LAPSCOVERY (Long Acting Protein/Peptide Discovery Platform Technology, Synthesized Drug Project Inhibitors to cure cancer and autoimmune diseases), and Incrementally Modified Drug Project (New medicine production with the combination of different skills.)

Not only Hanmi Pharmaceuticals, but also other Korean Pharmacy Companies have been stimulated by latest Hanmi’s success. On the 4th of January, Greencross Korea, Daewoong, Donga-Sociogroup, Yuhan, and so on have selected their ambition towards new medicine and revealed their plans to invest much more on R&D. For example, Greencross Korea is invest about 30% more than the previous year. Daewoong has selected their aim as 1 trillion Korean won.

Personally, as a student majoring in pharmacy, I wish that this circumstances to keep continue to develop as a positive feedback. More national companies will be able to develop new medicines and that will stimulate more companies which will result in more investment on R&D to develop medicines that have never been made before.

In the next 5 years, I wish that Korean Pharmaceutical Industry to be on the top. How do you think about it? B

REVIEW PAPER

A Revolutionary Change that 3D Printer will bring to the Pharmaceutical Industry Harin Lee

fantastic031@naver.com

H

ave you ever heard about 3D printing? 3D printing is a technology that can print in any 3D shape. A lot of people have high expectation on 3D printing industry as leading future technology. In this article, I want to share my opinion on how to use 3D printing technology in pharmaceutical industry by introducing my report. The title of this report is ‘Revolutionary Change that 3D Printer will bring to the Pharmaceutical Industry.’

This report covers the current status and future possibility of utilization of 3D printing technology in the pharmaceutical industry. Furthermore, it contains things that we should make up to improve the availability of 3D printing technology.

Nowadays, 3D bioprinting technology is utilized for designing liver tissue which is used in toxicology testing. Also, ZipDose technique, the manufacturing system that adapts the 3D printing technology, helped develope a new dosage form. A lot of people expect that diverse tissues such as blood-ocular barriers, and renal tissues will be produced by 3D bioprinter for non-clinical testing. Using 3D printing technology in manufacturing drugs is predicted to be able to reduce the production cost and offer personalized drugs for all patients with diverse background. If Reactionware* becomes commercialized by passing the current beginning stage, manufacture and distribution of drugs will become more efficient.

Moreover, if the 4D printing technology which is capable of self-transforming improves, we can look forward to develope a new type of dosage forms.

*Reactionware: Custom-built laboratory (labware) that test chemical reactions.

Full text

In order to make this practice possible, developing the software for 3D bioprinter and establishing the growth conditions for 3D printed tissues are required. In addition, the data that supports the propriety of 3D printed tissues for non clinical test should be established. Furthermore, problems related to time and money are also critical issues that should be resolved. Specific regulations need to be improved in order to prevent future relevant problems.

Even though this paper does not cover all information about 3D printing industry, I thought it is meaningful to introduce novel field and share development possibility of the industry. I would be happy if anyone take interest in 3D printing industry after reading this report. Furthermore, I hope that someone could develope this industry to the further level. B

containers

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EXPERIENCE

Experience at a dry lab HyunA Lee liana93@yonsei.ac.kr

Introduction of the laboratory

T

he laboratory where I decided to work as an undergraduate research student was Prof.

EunA Han’s social pharmacy laboratory. The laboratory usually studies diverse social phenomena based on the data and mainly researches on pharmaceutical policy evaluation, assessment of contextual influences on obesity, and so on.

Then what is social pharmacy? The social pharmacy is quite different from other areas of pharmacy studies like physiology, pharmacology and biochemistry, which have been the main theme of the pharmacy research. It focuses on a subject who consumes the drugs and the society in which the subject belongs to.

If researchers deal with the drug and medical services, they usually conduct an economic evaluation of drugs, which calculates social and economic value of the drug.

Also, if they focus on patients who take a medicine, they study the patients perception on the drug and their medication utilization behavior.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

The reason why I chose to work at this laboratory Since I wanted to have a job as a pharmacist to be beneficial and helpful to the public, I was actually interested in the field of social pharmacy before admitting into Yonsei University. I thought that the social pharmacy would contribute in improving people’s quality of life. Studying diverse classes of social pharmacy like healthcare system and pharmacostatistics through 3rd and 4th grade in Yonsei University, college of pharmacy, I had a chance to get to know a variety of area in this field. Accordingly, I wanted to get into the laboratory to know how professors in social pharmacy work and what kind of subject they deal with in their field. Among many labs related to this field, the reason why I choose prof Han’s laboratory was that the mathematical aspects of statistics seemed more attractive to me.

EXPERIENCE

Making a database for further research

Assessment Service) to improve medication adherence.

First of all, the professor gave me a brief explanation about the paper. With that background knowledge, I began to read the paper during my spare time. After I finished In this laboratory, almost all research are done based on the reading, I summarized the contents of the paper and the database. Accordingly, it is needed to get a data from thought about the method for improving the paper. It some national organization like Statistics Korea(KOSAT) included mainly about the study method and results and then process the data in the format that I want. There suggested in this paper. I wrote some questions about are two kinds of work on this part. One is to realize and the paper and supplement method to improve it. Also, I identify the medication utilization behavior through the briefly considered and suggested another subject which claimed data and the information about the drug. Another could be branched from this thesis topic. After this, I had is to collect and organize the data for obesity research, a meeting with the professor to discuss about the paper. which the professor is proceeding.

It was interesting that I was able to compare my thoughts To understand what I did in labs, I have to introduce and questions with the actual limits when proceeding the about the research that the professor is conducting. First, studies in real field. I could deeply understand the idea and the research of medication utilization behavior has a goal the definition importantly used in the paper. In addition, to merge the database from claimed it was valuable that another research data and the information of the drugs topic I thought could be evaluated for its What did I do as an approved in the pharmaceutical feasibility by the professor. undergraduate researcher market. In this way the drug utilization in this laboratory, and what pattern would be found. I worked on was the research about? sorting useful variables and made a What I did as an raw data into a fully processed data. undergraduate laboratory Second, another study the professor researcher is largely divided into making a database for conducts is about obesity. In detail, further research and paper the study is about the social and analysis.

Though it was quite a short period, environmental factor that could cause I could experience many things because obesity. If fast food stores selling the professor mostly respected my opinion. The good pizza or chicken and convenient store are scattered near point of the laboratory experience in vacation is that we where I live, I would have a higher possibility to consume could focus more on the research content that we are those foods than people who do not live in that kind of interested in. During the semester, occasionally we have area. For this research, it is needed to draw an obesity to do some assignments about an academic paper, but map to know how the fast food stores and convenient many people would feel that it is not easy to only focus stores are located according to different regional groups. on the contents because of its deadline or preparation I primarily asked the KOSAT and found the number of for presentation. Also, it is not that easy to get to know fastfood and convenient store at each region in each year. about the social pharmacy usually, because we study Also, I proceeded the work that matching the number of more about the scientific and technological contents. regional population in each year with the number of fast However, thanks to this experience, I learned more about food store. the social pharmacy through this laboratory experience.

Additionally, I even learned how to handle and process a data.

Personally, I think this experience is good for people who is interested in statistics and in social pharmacy of At the same time, I started to read the paper, which course, or have a mathematical attitude. You can map the professor wrote. It was about the patient’s response out your experience as an undergraduate research student to the intervention of HIRA(Health Insurance Review & through consulting with the professor before you start. B

My thoughts about the laboratory experience

Reading and analyzing paper

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CAMPUS ISSUE

Freshmen Yoonju Jang

Freshman and Graduate, Four Years Apart Interview with freshman and a graduate of Yonsei University, college of pharmacy

2009-2011 New Westminster Secondary School 2011-2012 Burnaby North Secondary School 2012-2014 University of Toronto, Neuroscience/Cellular&Molecular Biology 2016Yonsei University, College of Pharmacy

Freshmen Interview What made you come to pharmacy school?

In the University of Toronto, I double majored in Neuroscience and Cellular & Molecular Biology. There was a famous organic chemistry class, and during the class the professor once mentioned pharmaceutical fields which captured my heart. During the research, I realized that only Canadian who graduated from pharmacy school can acquire the license. Therefore, I decided to come back to Korea and enter a college of pharmacy. Since Yonsei University has a beautiful campus and I had a great time in Yonsei summer school previous year, I made my choice to join the Yonsei University College of pharmacy.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

F

Songhee Min songheemin@yonsei.ac.kr

ebruary 29th of 2016, the second graduation ceremony was held at Yonsei University College of Pharmacy. Thirty students of the Class of 2010 have left the school and are, now, pharmacists. Meanwhile, new students of the Class of 2014 have joined the school and fulfilled the vacancy. The freshmen and graduates are 4 years apart, but they have used the same classrooms, been taught by the same professors and are heading to the same path in the same college. Freshmen have their expectation and worries about the new school, and the advices from graduates will help them easily adjust to the new surroundings. The Blue Vanguard has interviewed one of the freshmen, Yoonju Jang and one of the graduates, Harin Lee.

What is the difference between universities in Canada and universities in South Korea?

When I studied two years at the University of Toronto, most of the courses were large-scale classes taken by almost 1500 students, and the professors rarely had an interaction with the students. Also, there was little chance to meet new friends. Most of the students had their own group composed of the same race. Meanwhile, when I joined the Yonsei University, it was interesting that most of the classes were taken by fewer students, and there were much more interaction between professors and students.

What is your biggest worries and expectation in pharmacy school?

Personally, I am concerned about the language. Most of the courses are taught in Korean, yet text books are in English, and exams are in Korean which looks very confusing to me.

In contrast, I am excited to meet and communicate with many people who have diverse backgrounds, which will broaden my mind. Also, I look forward to joining special events at Yonsei University such as Yon-Go Jun and Akaraka.

What do you want do after graduation?

I want to become a hospital pharmacist who goes for a round of visits with doctors. Also, with knowledge of Psychology, I would like to be a pharmacist who counsels with patients and gives expert advices in medicines. To accomplish my goal, I have to study hard and establish a firm pharmaceutical basis.

Pharmacy Student

CAMPUS ISSUE

2007-2011 Korea University, Biotechnology 2012-2016 Yonsei University, College of Pharmacy 2013 Internship at Daehwa pharmaceutical 2015 Internship at MSD 2016Working at Boryung pharmaceutical

Graduate Harin Lee

Graduate Interview What made you come to pharmacy school?

I majored in Biotechnology and minored in Psychology at Korea University.

At the last semester of my college life when learning about research at a laboratory as an undergraduate-student researcher, I realized that life in graduate school might be filled with hard work, something that I did not expect. For that reason, I decided not to enter the graduate school. Furthermore, at the moment, I was attending a class about applied science and medicines, which rouse my interest in pharmacy.

As attending a pharmacy school, I anticipated to learn more of applied science and research.

What was the best experience during your four years at the Yonsei university?

The last semester was the best experience during my four years at the Yonsei University. At that time, I was in charge of the Graduation Preparation Committee and it was a difficult work.

Nonetheless, it was enjoyable since rest of my friends always expressed their gratitude for what I have done.

In addition, Studying for the national examination was very stressful, but it was bearable thanks to my friends.

We always encouraged each other, and finally we went through the hard time. After the exam, we went for an unforgettable trip together.

What made you decide to find a job at pharmaceutical company?

Proceeding pharmacy practices internship, I found out that I could fit into pharmaceutical company very well.

The experience helped find out which position is suitable for me. As doing an internship at MSD, I learned how pharmaceutical companies works and how all of the departments cooperate together. Then, I figured out that I like to experience new things and accomplish something as a team. Therefore, I decided to join a pharmaceutical company.

Do you have any advice for the freshmen?

Entering a pharmacy school was a turning point of my life.

Various experience broadened my point of view and the practices helped me find out about myself and my future. To freshmen! there are various fields open for future pharmacists, so I highly recommend you to have diverse experience at the college. For instance, joining internships and student clubs will develop your teamwork skills. Meeting lots of people from various fields will let you understand different points of views and have more integrated thought. I hope you will have an in-depth experience on your field, and it will help you find your own path. B

2016 VOL.9

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STUDENT CLUB

communersclub eer t n u l o ’s v t n e d u cy st

pharma

Sungkyung Lee dltjdrud93@naver.com

What Is The Communers? ●Derived from the communicate.

‘The Cummuners’ is the volunteer organization that consists of pharmacy students who want to communicate with other healthcare providers and commune with the underprivileged people and let all the people know about what pharmacy students do.

Composition of organization, The Communers : ● Number of pharmacy students in five universities; Ajou, Catholic, Gachon, Hanyang, Yonsei belong to ‘The Communers’. ●194 Members (2016.02 basis)

History of the organization, The Communers -2013 Selected as organization which supported from the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) -2013-2015 Selected as KT&G Welfare Foundation cooperation organization

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

●Preparation volunteering in 10 welfare institutions > Regular welfare service area 1. Korean Health Professionals for Action(KHPA) 2. The health care for seonjae-village 3. Seoul Medical Association 4. Peace Love Share Medical Service 5. Raphael Clinic 6. Seoul Foreign worker center 7. Jubilee Mission Fellowship 8. Bucheon Migrant Worker’s House 9. Seongnam Migrant Community Service Center 10 . Chungdong agape clinic > Other occasional voluntary activities Emplace donation box in training pharmacy, Briquette ferry service, Daily cafe for fund raising, Voluntary activities with KT&G Welfare Foundation

STUDENT CLUB

Communers’s members interview

# Ajou University, Pharmacy, Hyun Jae Yub

Question 1. Subscription period, Period of activity, Motive to join 2. Introducing service sites and choirs 3. Communers’s point of attraction 4. Final words to tell to pharmacist students

Answer 1. I participated in this club since 2013 when I entered the College of Pharmacy. I am currently in my fourth year of the activity. I was interested in medical volunteering works before. Especially, volunteering works at compound medicine part. So I was looking for a club that can do medical volunteering works with other college of Pharmacy students. Then I was told that there is a volunteer circle in our school. I almost immediately signed up.

3. There are several advantages that you can experience in advance as a pharmacy student. You can directly experience compounding and medication counseling.

Originally, you will experience in your 5th or 6th grade.

Furthermore, you will have extended networks because you interact with other students and various people. In particular, as everyone who participate in this club as the same purpose, ‘Volunteering’, the consensus of cub is extremely warm and good. Also, you can experience various forms of volunteering activities such as Daily cafe and Wall painting. Lastly, In your normal university life, you will not have much time or many opportunities to meet with people from other areas. But you will be able to do so in Communers with doctors, nurses, religious workers, etc and do volunteering together.

4. ‘The Communers’ means a group of people who live together and share everything. We want to signify that ‘The Communers’ represent pharmacist’s will of interaction with various people in the society. You will be satisfied with activities through ‘The Communers’.

Since last year, participating schools has increased to five schools. As a result, ‘The Communers’ has almost 200 members and it is becoming one of the biggest pharmacy students volunteering club in country. You should join and you might be able to make some good memories with ‘The Communers’. B

2. I did a variety of activities. In Seoul, I did volunteer activities at The health care for seonjae-village, Seoul Medical Association, Seoul Foreign worker center, Jubilee Mission Fellowship, Korean Health Professionals for Action, Raphael Clinic, Chungdong agape clinic.

These days, I usually go to The health care for seonjaevillage, Raphael Clinic and Jubilee Mission Fellowship.

All of these organizations are voluntary organizations, which operates from religious groups. But they have different features. First, you are able to participate in many parts in The health care for seonjae-village from compound to medication counseling. Next, at the Raphael Clinic, you can learn about the official and formal way of preparing a medicine. In last, Jubilee Mission Fellowship holds numerous and various medications. It is a good environment to learn about the benefits of multiple drugs storage.

2016 VOL.9

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COLUMN

The World’s Most Expensive Drugs

D

BoKyoung Kim

bokyoungkim@yonsei.ac.kr

o you know the most expensive drug of the entire world? How about the price of that drug? Can you guess an approximate price? The cost of Tylenol®, which may be the most familiar drug to you is 2,500won and another familiar drug, Bearse®, costs 2,000won. Astonishingly, the price of the costliest medicine in the world is 560,000 times more expensive than Tylenol and equals to the price of a 200㎡ (60 pyeong) apartment in Kangnamgu, Seoul.

Then, why is it so expensive? From now on, I will introduce you the brand name, ingredient, usage, and so one of the 3 of the most expensive drugs in the world and 2 of the most expensive medicines in Korea.

3 Most Expensive Medicines in the World

Glybera® (alipogene tiparvovec) Cost: $1.21 million a year

The title of “The Most Expensive Medicine in the Entire World” goes to Glybera, which is composed of alipogene tiparvovec. Glybera is the first gene therapy drug to receive marketing authorization in Europe in 2012.

This tremendously high priced drug is used to treat a condition called Familial Lipoprotein Lipase Deficiency (LPLD). This disease is caused by a mutation in the gene which codes the lipoprotein lipase. Patients with LPLD are at a high risk of acute pancreatitis, which is life-threatening.

Also, they suffer from an extremely painful swelling in the pancreas.

Glybera is administered as a one-time series of intramuscular injection in the leg. The number of injection sites, syringes, and vials needed depend on the patient’s weight. In case of a 60kg adult, 21 vials are needed and they cost $1.21 million. Fortunately, to cure the disease, patients need to be administerd only once, and thus the total annual cost of Glybera is $1.21 million.

The second most expensive drug in the world is Soliris. Although it lost the first place to Glybera, it is actually the most expensive drug sold in the United States. Soliris is a humanized monoclonal antibody, which treats paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.

This disease is caused by a defect in the formation of surface proteins on the red blood cell. Therefore, the disease destroys red blood cells and makes the patient susceptible to infection and anemia. Soliris helps relieve these complications by up to 90%.

Soliris should be administered intravenously for more than 35 minutes and 600 mg dose is injected once a week for a month. Then, in the 5th week, 900 mg of Soliris is administered as the fifth dose and 900 mg is injected every 2 weeks thereafter. After calculating the number of injections, the total amount of Soliris vials needed, and the price per vial, the ultimate annual cost of the drug is estimated to be $440,000.

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THE BLUE VANGUARD

Soliris® (eculizumab) Cost: $440,000 a year

COLUMN

Vimizim® (elosulfase alfa) Cost: $380,000 a year

Vimizim, an enzyme replace treatment for Morquio A syndrome, is the third most expensive medicine in the world. It is a formulation of elosulfase alpha, which is a purified human enzyme produced by recombinant DNA technology.

Morquio A syndrome is caused by a deficiency in N-acetylgalactosamine6-sulfatase. Vimizim is a synthetic version of this enzyme. This condition disrupts the breakdown of long-chain sugar molecules, resulting in an abnormal heart and skeletal development and dwarfism. It affects only about 800 people in the United States.

2 mg/kg should be administered via IV infusion once a week and it should be infused over 3.5 to 4.5 hours. 30 to 60 minutes before starting the infusion, pretreatment with antihistamines is recommended to prevent anaphylaxis.

2 Most Expensive Medicines in Korea

Cupistem® (autologous adipose) Cost : 13,490,000 won per dose

Cupistem is the most expensive drug among the medicines listed on the Korean National Health Insurance (NHI). It consists of 3 × 10 autologous adipose derived from the mesenchymal stem cells and the only stem cell medicine that is listed on NHI. Cupistem is used to alleviate complications of Crohn’s disease.

The prevalence of this disease is increasing in Korea, and it affects more than 25,000 people. It is a type of an autoimmune disease and inflammations develop from mouth to anus, in any part of the gastrointestinal tract. Patients with Crohn’s disease usually suffer from abdominal pain, diarrhea, and fever.

Cupistem should be injected in the submucosa of the rectal fistula.

The cost of one dose of this drug is 13,490,000won ($11,340), which equals to the cost of a small car. Fortunately, it is administerd only once to cure the disease similar to Glybera.

Remodulin is the second most expensive medicine among the drugs listed on the Korean National Health Insurance. The ingredient of Remodulin is treprostinil, which is a synthetic analog of prostacyclin (PGI2). Remodulin is used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). This disease makes tiny arteries in the patient’s lungs become narrow. In addition, it leads to pulmonary hypertension and heart failure.

To cure this disease, Remodulin is administered via subcutaneous transfusion or intravenous infusion. Its dosage depends on the patient’s clinical manifestation. It is prescribed for PAH patients whose New York Heart Association (NYHA) class is 2 to 4. The price of 20ml vial of Remodulin that is smaller than soju glass is 2,297,000won ($1,930). B

Remodulin® (treprostinil) Cost : 2,297,000 won per dose

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EPILOGUE

Our Crew 2016 BlueVanguard !

Editor-In-Chief Youngjay Im

Vice Editor-In-Chief Seungjin Lee

Journalists 4th Bokyoung Kim Songhee Min Sungkyung Lee HyunA Lee Heejo Lee Woohyuk Choi

Designers 5th

6th

Soojung Kim Chihyun Kim Yulseung Sung

Sol Kwon Soyeon Kim Chaeyeon Won Yoonju Jang Hayan Jang Seobin Park Dohyun Lee

BLUE 28

THE BLUE VANGUARD

Jihoon Jeong Hyunji Park Yeonhee Cha Jiseung Hong Sohee Jo

Address College of Pharmacy, Yonsei University, 85 Songdogwahak-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon 21983, Korea

Online Site https://issuu.com/bluevanguard

EPILOGUE

Farewell...

Leaving words from the 4th members

Bokyoung Kim It was a really valuable experience for me to be a Blue Vanguardian! I owe thanks to all Blue Vanguard members and readers.

HyunA Lee

Sungkyung Lee

Woohyuk Choi

I feel extremely sad to write Blue Vanguard is not just an the last article on Blue ordinary school club.

Vanguard. It was a pleasure Blue Vanguard is the symbol to spend meaningful two of College of Pharmacy, and a half years in the Blue Yonsei University.

Vanguard. Although I am Let’s continue growing! leaving, I strongly believe Let’s continue challenging! that newcomers will be able to lead blue vanguard well.

I love Blue Vanguard, Thank You.

Hyunji Park

Yeonhee Cha

Heejo Lee I would like to send a big thanks to our Blue Vanguardians who helped me for the last two years.

Thanks to them, I wrote magnificent articles.

As it has always been, Blue Vanguard will keep developing.

Songhee Min

For the past two years, I I cannot believe that I al- Taking part in Blue Vanguard It was an honor to be a spent such a meaningful as a designer was a great ready published four magpart of the bluevanguard. time as a Blue Vanguardian. azines and am graduating opportunity to develop my I would like to express my Thanks to all Blue Vanguard creativity while acquiring gratitude to everyone whom Blue Vanguard! members and especially our various pharmaceutical Although we as a design I interviewed for my articles 4th members. I’m sure BV information. I hope that Blue team were short of time of this and last issues. would develop further and because we are responsible Vanguard can be read by Also, special thanks to all further. more and more readers! for the final step of the magof Blue Vanguardians who azine publication, I spent worked together as a team! joyful and worthwhile time.

It is finally over :) Good luck to the next Blue Vanguardians and Design team.

VANGUARD

STEMORE BAMSONGI

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Editor’s note Hello readers. It is my pleasure to introduce the 9th edition of The Blue Vanguard. We cover various topics including national and international issues which emerge as the utmost focus of this year along with interesting column and review paper. Furthermore, we had the opportunity to interview experts in pharmaceutical fields and intake their valuable advices. I hope that The Blue Vanguard can provide new insights for shaping our future and encourage deeper studies in all grounds.

In this semester, The Blue Vanguard recruited freshmen as new members for reporters and design team.

Additionally, in order to improve the quality of our magazine, we created a position called editing manager.

Last but not least, I would like to express gratitude to our advertisers Han-Oh Park of Bioneer, Jaehoon Jeong of Pharm study, Jonghyuk Sung of Stemore, in addition to our advising professors, Professor Gyoonhee Han and Jinhyun Jeong.

Youngjay Im

2016 VOL.9

31

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