How to approach an increasingly challenging and subjective Japanese pricing environment

Japan remains on balance an attractive pharmaceutical market, with favorable volume dynamics, generally attractive pricing and broad and unfettered market access, writes Patrick Branch from LEK Consulting, in an Expert View piece.

However, pricing has become more challenging over recent years – both in terms of how rules are designed and, less obviously to the outside, how they are prosecuted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) – and many companies have been caught out by these shifts.

Companies need to approach Japan pricing with their eyes wide open in order to set expectations appropriately and devise effective strategies to optimize price at the time of launch and thereafter.