Weight-loss injections: Is it illegal to buy them directly from a hospital? Ministry of Health and Welfare launches on-site inspections

[Financial News] Even buying self-administered weight-loss injections directly from a hospital is, in principle, illegal. They must be dispensed by a pharmacy on a doctor's prescription. The government is conducting on-site inspections of medical institutions that have sold injections on their premises in violation of this principle.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on the 22nd that it would conduct on-site inspections to stamp out illegal in-house dispensing and sales, following reports that some medical institutions were selling self-injectable obesity treatments on their premises in violation of the separation of prescribing and dispensing.
Self-injectable medicines are prescription drugs designed for patients to administer themselves, and under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act they must be prescribed by a doctor and dispensed by a pharmacist. There is one exception: only when a medical institution administers the injection to a patient to teach them how to inject it is this recognized as an exception to the separation of prescribing and dispensing.
The ministry has consistently stated that medical institutions may dispense and sell these medicines only in such cases. However, cases of some medical institutions selling substantial quantities directly to patients without administering the injections themselves have surged.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare and local governments will conduct on-site inspections of medical institutions nationwide that rank among the highest in supply volume and are suspected of dispensing and selling self-injectable obesity treatments on their premises. They will check whether the institutions comply with the separation-of-prescribing-and-dispensing principle and plan to take action under relevant laws and regulations if violations are found.
Violating the separation-of-prescribing-and-dispensing principle under Article 23, Paragraph 4 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act is punishable by up to one year in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won. A violation of the duty to issue prescriptions under Article 18, Paragraph 1 of the Medical Service Act carries a 15-day suspension of professional qualifications for a first offense, and a 30-day suspension if repeated within two years.
The ministry plans to continue monitoring supply volumes to medical institutions and overseeing compliance with the separation-of-prescribing-and-dispensing principle after this investigation.
Gwak Sun-heon, the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Director General for Health and Medical Policy, said, “Although demand for self-injectable obesity treatments is increasing, it must not lead to illegal drug sales that violate the principle of separation of prescribing and dispensing. We will strengthen oversight to ensure that this principle—an important institutional safeguard for protecting public health and preventing the misuse and abuse of medicines—is faithfully upheld in practice, and do our utmost to create a safe environment for the use of medicines.” 


[email protected] Jung Myung-jin, Medical Correspondent Reporter