Increasing prescription at medical institutions linked to sales of large pharmaceutical firm

The Ministry of Health and Welfare lowered prices of 6,506 different drugs by 14 percent from April 1 as part of its plan to cut spending on national health insurance. With the price cut, the country’s health insurance is expected to decrease by 1.7 trillion won.

Ironically, however, the combined sales of Korea’s five leading companies rose 6.9 percent on-year to 1.88 trillion won in the fir...