2015/08/17
The beginnings of a formulation of regional medical care vision for the future delivery system, the introduction of regional coordinating health care companies (RCHC), the establishment of Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) … 2015 will be remembered as a year for many changes in the medical delivery system and research and development environment, and as epoch-making year for pharmaceutical industry. Meanwhile, many Japanese companies have not succeeded in shifting profit centers from long-listed drugs to innovative new drugs. Globalization is another challenge. Japanese companies are entering a new era in which they cannot survive without new drug development, also without true globalization. Given these changes, how are companies to ride over these big waves? In this special issue, we have special guests, Mr. Toshihiko Takeda, the Deputy Director-General of Health Insurance Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and Dr. Toshio Miyata, Executive Director of Health and Global Policy Institute,to discuss various issues surrounding the pharmaceutical industry, including the impact of RCHC, challenges of new drug development, and the way to globalization.