Japanese Plan Export Boost To Beat NHI Price Curbs

Japanese drugmakers are hoping to make up for their government's lid ondrug prices by selling more products overseas, reports Nikkei News. Analysts feel the move to international harmonization of drug approval standards will offer just the needed window of opportunity.

Fujisawa plans to market Prograf (tacrolimus) in Italy, the Netherlands, Finland and Norway this year, and in Belgium in 1998. Fujisawa said it is moving into foreign markets because it does not expect any rapid expansion in transplant operations in Japan. Prograf's foreign sales were 10 billion yen ($84.8 million), five times domestic sales, in the year to March 1997 and, with US approval in April, they are expected to grow 60% to 16 billion yen this fiscal year, reports Nikkei.

Sankyo plans to start selling Noscal (troglitazone), approved in the USA and in Japan in April, in the UK later this year, notes Nikkei. It also plans to file in other European Union countries, and expects 3.8 billion yen in foreign sales for the year to March 1998. To help boost Noscal sales, Sankyo plans to double the sales staff of its German unit to 150, and appoint a senior executive to supervise sales.