Worries Over Japan's Next Drug Price Cuts

In Japan, it has been agreed by the pharmaceutical industry that some rules governing drug price recalculations should be laid down in accordance with the Central Social Insurance Medical Council's (Chuikyo) 1992 report, and it has been effectively decided that next year will see a further round of drug price cuts.

However, nobody has discussed the drugs targeted for the next price revisions, reports Pharma Japan, because "it is impossible to specifically designate such products at a time when a clear-cut repricing rule has yet to be established." Until now, it adds, the health authorities have not contacted drug companies about the application of the Chuikyo Agreement in the next revision.

Koseisho, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, is believed to be planning to reduce the price range to 10% of National Health Insurance prices by 1998, and thereafter to watch market trends closely.