Japanese Drugmakers' On Price Comparisons

Following the recent world drug price comparison survey by the Japan Medical Practitioners' Federation (Marketletter October 3), which found Japanese prices tending to be higher, the Japanese industry has said it has a number of different opinions on some aspects, reports Pharma Japan. Among the points raised by the industry are that:

- comparison should be made based on prices converted using purchasing power parity in order to eliminate the effects of movements in currency exchange rates;

- to eliminate bias in the selection of drugs, a standard basket of drugs commonly used in different countries should be prepared and comparisons should be based on mean prices weighted with respect to sales volume; and