USA's BIO slams Japan's pharma reimbursement and pricing system

The US trade group the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), has declared its disappointment in Japan's price modification of innovative drugs undermining predictable system.

The reaction comes in the wake of last’s week’s revelation that the Japanese government had slashed the price of the multi-indication cancer drug Opdivo (nivolumab) by half. US pharma major Opdivo, Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMS) and Japanese drugmaker Ono Pharmaceuticals' (TYO: 4528)’s programmed death-1 (PD-1) immune checkpoint inhibitor is approved in Japan for treating advanced melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer and kidney cancer.

In a press statement, Joseph Damond, senior vice president for international affairs, said: “As the world’s largest organization representing biotechnology innovators, including academic institutions, start-up enterprises, and biopharmaceutical companies of all sizes in more than 30 countries around the world, BIO regrets recent developments in Japan’s reimbursement and pricing system that make it less predictable and more risky for innovators.