Jeil Pharm, Sanctioned by the Fair Trade Commission, Recruits Former FTC Official as Outside Director

Unusual Appointment of Former FTC Official as Director at Pharmaceutical Company

Jeil Pharmaceutical has decided to appoint a former Fair Trade Commission (FTC) official as an outside director and audit committee member.

According to the pharmaceutical industry on the 12th, Jeil Pharmaceutical plans to address the agenda of appointing Kim Deuk-woong, former Secretary of the Corporate Transaction Policy Bureau at the FTC, as a new outside director and audit committee member at the regular shareholders' meeting scheduled for the 25th.

Previously, in November last year, the FTC imposed a corrective order and a fine of 300 million KRW on Jeil Pharmaceutical for illegal rebate activities. It was revealed that from around January 2020 to November 2023, Jeil Pharmaceutical provided or proposed to provide economic benefits worth approximately 250 million KRW to medical personnel affiliated with hospitals and clinics in the Seoul metropolitan and Yeongnam regions, aiming to have 36 of its pharmaceutical products adopted, maintained, or increased in prescriptions, which became a problem.

While it has been common for pharmaceutical companies to recruit former officials from related agencies such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare or the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety as outside directors, it is considered unusual to recruit a former FTC official who monitors and sanctions business activities. Several industry insiders said, "It is not necessarily problematic for a former FTC official to be appointed as an outside director of a pharmaceutical company," but added, "It is true that such cases have been rarely seen until now."

For this reason, some voices suggest that Jeil Pharmaceutical’s recent recruitment is more of a multi-purpose strategic move, justified by the need to prevent recurrence of illegal activities and to respond promptly to potential negative issues that may arise in the future. An industry insider commented, "It can be sufficiently interpreted as an attempt to broaden connections with the FTC."

Regarding this perspective, a Jeil Pharmaceutical representative stated, "This is a new appointment following the resignation of an existing outside director, and there is no special reason."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.