Japan's MHLW to evaluate performance goals in figures

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has recently established actual performance goals by major policies for fiscal 2006 in order to learn to what extent their achievements will be progressed in figures. The following goals have been set up by each policy field.

For promoting the development of pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and the advancement of the drug industry, the sizes of the respective markets, the number of drugmakers and distributors, and the number of approvals for new drugs and medical devices will be reviewed.

With regard to facilitating the review and approval process for new drugs and medical devices, the ratio of priority reviews to total clearances, the number of approvals and New Drug Applications and the time frame for review of such new products will be assessed.