JAPANESE GENERICS TO CARRY 10% DISCOUNT

Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare has decreed that henceforth, generic or me-too drugs waiting for listing on the National Health Insurance price list will have prices given which are at 90% of those of the original product. The decision confirms the MHW's announcement last November on new product pricing.

According to Pharma Japan, the 90% rule has been conventionally applied in cases where the number of generics awaiting NHI price listing and their already-listed predecessors exceeds 20. "Because this rule is to be applied in the future as it is, NHI prices for copy drugs for which there are 20 or more predecessors will be determined by multiplying the price of these predecessors by 81%," the journal says.

Generics Policy Meantime, the Global Generics Explosion conference (co-sponsored by Nicholas Hall and Credit Consultant Inc) was told by Toshio Sakaguchi, managing director of the Ethical Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association in Japan, that factors influencing the future development of generics in Japan include the drug tariff system, the medical service system and government policies to increase medical expenses paid by patients, as well as administrative policies for generic drugs in that country.