Evolution of Japan's pharma wholesalers - by P Reed Maurer

Half of the definition for evolution (noun; a gradual process in which something changes especially into a more complex form) in the American Heritage Dictionary can be applied to pharma wholesalers in Japan, that is, a gradual process of change. But the result was a less, not more complex form, says P Reed Maurer, long-time Japanese pharma industry watcher and president of International Alliances Limited (IAL), in an exclusive article for The Pharma Letter.

The objective of this article is to outline the characteristics of wholesalers in the past, present, and a future forecast. There are more than a few people who like to describe change in Japan as “same old, same old.” Unfortunately they are unfamiliar with what happened to wholesalers over the past 30 years.

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