On October 11, 2013, Shin & Kim co-hosted a seminar entitled “Legal Issues in the Drug Approval-Patent Linkage System and Parallel Importation of Drugs” with the Korea Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association.

In the first session of the seminar, Mr. Bo-Kyung Lim, Ms. Yoon-Hee Kim and Ms. Mi-Hyun Melissa Park of Shin & Kim gave a presentation that included: an overview of the Drug Approval-Patent Linkage System, legal issues relating to the Drug Approval-Patent Linkage System (with a focus on reverse payment settlement), and compensation for damages incurred by patent holders under the Drug Approval-Patent Linkage System.  In the second session, Mr. Bo-Kyung Lim gave a presentation on: the pharmaceutical market structure, the significance of parallel imports of pharmaceutical products and its current status, requirements for approval of parallel imports of pharmaceutical products, and parallel imports of pharmaceutical products and repackaging related issues.

The seminar, which aimed to serve as a forum for discussion on the proper implementation of the Drug Approval-Patent Linkage System (scheduled to become effective in 2015) and possible ways to supply pharmaceutical products at reasonable prices, attracted much interest from pharmaceutical companies and concerned institutions. The seminar was touted as highly informative and valuable by guests, as it focused on proposed legislation for the draft amendments to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. The guests also commented that the seminar introduced innovative insights and prospects on the improvement of the current systems and policies on drug prices by suggesting reasonable adjustments of various concerned industry players’ interests in the course of steering implementation of the new Drug Approval-Patent Linkage System toward the greater public interest.