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Hyundai Pharmaceutical's corporate logo (Hyundai Pharm) |
Hyundai Pharmaceutical announced Tuesday that it had filed an application for authorization to market an abortion pill in South Korea.
Mifegymiso consists of one tablet of mifepristone and four tablets of misoprostol. Mifepristone, formerly RU-486, is known by the brand name Mifegyne in Korea.
In March this year, Hyundai Pharm signed an exclusive agreement with Linepharma International to sell Mifegyne in the Korean market.
If approved, Mifegymiso would become the first legal abortion pill in Korea since a 2019 ruling by the Constitutional Court, which overturned the ban on abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
The illegal trading of abortion pills has raised safety concerns and concerns about counterfeit drugs.
In February, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety found 188 online sites selling abortion pills illegally.
Hyundai Pharm plans to distribute Mifegymiso as a prescription drug, meaning that the drug will be dispensed to patients only in certain health care settings, such as medical offices and hospitals, under the supervision of a certified prescriber.
The US Food and Drug Administration says it is safe to use abortion pills during early pregnancy, up to nine or 10 weeks of gestation or 70 days after the last menstrual period.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly is working on a bill to revise the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, which bans the advertising of abortion pills.
By Shim Woo-hyun (
ws@heraldcorp.com)
