In the 8th Global Bio Conference sponsored by the Korea Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on September 6, 2022, Prof. Howard Lee emphasized the unique nature of biologics in comparison with conventional small-molecule drugs, particularly in terms of their clinical safety and accessibility. "The safety of biologics should be ascertained even after they are approved for marketing since they are way different from the traditional chemistry-based drugs", Prof. Lee argued. Prof. Lee further pointed out the uniqueness of biologics by saying "We have to be well prepared not only for the utility, but for the potential safety issues in every single biologic, which is anticipated to be more frequently used in a clinical setting." Prof. Lee also addressed the reimbursement for biologics because they are typically more expensive although their efficacy can be dramatic.

More details about Prof. Lee's presentation at the GBC can be found at the following online articles: 1 and 2. 

Prof. Howard Lee argued that the current dichotomy between 'orphan drugs' and 'treatments for orphan disease' has severely aggravated the lower reimbursement rate by the National Health Insurance Service for orphan drugs, particularly for children. This argument came out from a forum Prof. Lee was invited to at the National Assembly on July 13, 2022. Prof. Lee continued the reimbursement decision for orphan drugs cannot solely be dependent upon cost-effective analysis because the society has to pay ethical and humanitarian attention to children with orphan diseases and their families, not to mention their pains and frustrations. Prof. Lee's plenary talk was well received by the press too, and his full presentation can be watched by clicking the YouTube link below.  

In an interview with Arirang TV, Prof. Howard Lee stressed the new BA.5 sub-variant of the Omicron Covid-19 could bring a new resurgence to Korea as early as in August. "The BA.5 sub-variant has started dominating the Covid-19 sub-variants in South Korea quite recently, which rose to 25% last week, almost tripled from 10% a week before." Prof. Lee also pointed out the super infectivity of BA.5 by saying "The BA.5 sub-variant is by far the most infectious variant we have seen." Prof. Lee continued, "Scientists call BA.5 immune-evasive, which means vaccination or previous infection doesn't help from getting it." Although BA.5 may pose a bigger health problem to the society as a whole, Prof. Lee did not agree to go back to strict measure in the past resurgences. The full video interview of Prof. Lee can be watched at the following YouTube clip. 

Prof. Howard Lee was invited to the 2022 Spring Conference of the Korean Society of Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Regulatory Sciences, June 24, 2022, where he proposed the most critical and urgent action items to advance regulatory science in Korea. Prof. Lee emphasized that four areas of uncertainty needed to be clarified first before the level of regulatory science in Korea could be improved. According to Prof. Lee, there are four uncertainties in the regulatory science community in Korea, i.e., the focus, driver(s), human resource development, and making regulatory science academically vigorous and independent. Prof. Lee's talk was featured in an article by KPA News. 

Prof. Lee's full  presentation can be watched at the following YouTube link.