Japan's government should support nation's pharma industry, rewarding innovation

The government of Japan should give stronger support to the pharmaceutical industry by establishing a National Health Insurance pricing system that more fairly rewards innovation, promoting a preferential taxation system and more effectively protecting intellectual property rights in order to boost the drug discovery capability of the country's drugmakers, says Isao Teshirogi, president of local pharmaceutical company Shionogi.

Speaking at a Japanese Society of Bioinformatics meeting in Osaka, reported by Pharma Japan, Dr Teshirogi expressed hope for a government-led industry revitalization program, saying the drug industry is a sector that most suits Japan ' which lacks natural resources ' and noting that drugmakers pay a great deal in corporate taxes even during an economic recession.

He pointed out that while the pharmaceutical markets of other developed countries continue to grow, that in Japan has remained virtually unchanged for many years. As a result, the country is falling in world rankings. Dr Teshiogi also expressed concern that the percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spends on medicines is amongst the lowest of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations.
More clinical trial infrastructure needed