Diabetes drug insurance standards unchanged for 15 years, blocking personalized treatment

South Korea's diabetes treatment drug insurance coverage standards have been stagnant for 15 years, failing to keep pace with the latest medical advancements and hindering personalized patient care. Despite a growing diabetes population, with over 6 million adults over 30 diagnosed, the current insurance framework, established in 2011, does not incorporate updated treatment guidelines.

The Korean Diabetes Association and the Korean Medical and Bio-Journalists Association convened a symposium to address these issues. Recent clinical guidelines now recommend early combination therapy with SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists for patients with specific comorbidities such as heart failure, chronic kidney disease, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. These drugs offer significant benefits beyond blood sugar control.

Dr. Cho Young-min, director of clinical practice guidelines for the Korean Diabetes Association and a professor at Seoul National University Hospital, emphasized that the most crucial change in recent guidelines is the shift from selecting medications based solely on blood sugar levels to prioritizing drugs with proven clinical benefits for co-existing conditions. However, the existing insurance policy acts as a barrier to implementing this more effective, individualized approach to diabetes management.

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The most important change in recent treatment guidelines is moving away from selecting drugs based on blood sugar levels to prioritizing drugs with proven clinical benefits based on comorbidities.