Japan's MHLW to renew pharmaceutical industry vision 2007

Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has started to draw up an action plan to implement the goals in the Ministry's Vision of the Pharmaceutical Industry established on August 30, 2002, from the fiscal year 2007. To this end, it held a newly-established panel meeting on "the promotion of the pharmaceutical industry policy," with the aim of developing a new version.

Although the MHLW has recently published a report on the progress of the implementation of the goals in an action plan, this will expire in the current fiscal year (Marketletter May 22 issue). Therefore, the Ministry plans to produce a new action plan by the end of the fiscal year ending March 2007. This will be done by listening to the views and opinions of stakeholders, including the pharmaceutical industry organizations and health care professional associations several times during 2006.

At a June 5 meeting in a MHLW conference room packed with the Ministry officials, industry-related people and reporters, reflecting a great deal of interest, each pharmaceutical industry organizations presented its evaluation on the implementation of the current action plan and their requests/propositions for the future vision.