Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance Strengthens Dementia Treatment Collaboration with Global Pharmaceutical Company Eisai

Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance recently announced on the 24th that it has signed a business agreement with the global pharmaceutical company Eisai to collaborate on dementia prevention and treatment, aiming to improve dementia awareness and develop insurance products.

Since last year, Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance has been strengthening research related to dementia and conducting advanced market surveys. From January to April last year, it conducted a study analyzing the entire process from the onset of dementia symptoms to treatment, deterioration, and death. It also investigated the dementia drug markets in the United States and Japan and reviewed the possibility of insurance coverage.

At the strategic partnership agreement ceremony for "Dementia Prevention and Treatment" held at the Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance headquarters on Saemunan-ro, Seoul, Ko Hong-byeong, CEO of Korea Eisai (left), and Song Yoon-sang, CEO of Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance, are taking a commemorative photo. Photo by Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance

Korea Eisai supported Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance’s research and surveys for effective dementia prevention and management. As a result of their collaboration, Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance launched the industry’s first “HeungGood Family Love Simple Dementia Care Insurance” last month, which guarantees treatment costs for very mild dementia. The special rider for targeted dementia drug approval treatment costs covers the expenses of drugs that remove “amyloid beta protein,” known as a causative substance of Alzheimer’s disease.

The insurance payment conditions are ▲diagnosis of very mild dementia (CDR 0.5 points) or mild Alzheimer’s dementia and ▲confirmation of a certain level of amyloid beta protein accumulation in the brain. If these conditions are met and the treatment drug is administered more than seven times, a maximum of 10 million KRW in treatment costs will be paid for the first administration only. In addition to currently available drugs, drugs with the same effect developed in the future will also be covered.

Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance obtained exclusive rights to the special rider for targeted dementia drug approval treatment costs in December last year. Accordingly, other insurance companies cannot launch similar products until September this year.

A representative from Heungkuk Fire & Marine Insurance stated, “Through this collaboration, we aim to reduce the economic burden on dementia patients and their families and raise awareness of the importance of early diagnosis and prevention. We will continue to develop insurance products that provide more practical benefits to our customers.”

Korea Eisai plans to proceed with more substantial collaboration to build an overall healthcare ecosystem following the establishment of an official partnership.

Korea Eisai is the Korean branch of the global pharmaceutical company Eisai, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Since establishing its branch in Korea in 1997, it has been conducting various projects for patients and their families based on the corporate philosophy of “Human Health Care.” Recently, it has been working to build a healthcare ecosystem that organically connects pharmaceutical companies (developing dementia treatments), insurance companies (launching dementia coverage products), medical institutions (providing diagnosis and treatment), welfare facilities (nursing and rehabilitation), and the government (public policy) to support early prevention and management of dementia.