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The delayed approval and price setting of Novartis Pharma’s Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec), a gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) listed in May, has raised questions about how the sakigake designation system should be operated. Despite being designated for the…

When Jiho surveyed drug makers on the non-sales criteria they use to evaluate reps’ performance, it received a variety of…

Nearly a year after the introduction of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s (MHLW) drug promotion guidelines in April…

Advancements in modified oligonucleotide technologies has been the key driver behind a spate of approvals in the oligonucleotide therapeutics space…

Japan’s key reimbursement policy panel on December 20 approved an outline of its FY2020 drug pricing reform next April, with…

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) on November 27 added to the NHI price list Japan’s first biosimilars of Avastin (bevacizumab), Nesp (darbepoetin alfa), and Forteo (teriparatide). The NHI prices of first biosimilars are set at 70% of…

A total of 51 new drugs joined the NHI price list in 2019, which are expected to generate combined peak sales of 373 billion yen, according to Jiho’s tally of data submitted to a key reimbursement policy panel. The relatively…

Some seven years in the making, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) finally rolled out a cost-effectiveness assessment…

Japan will go ahead with the introduction of a cost-effectiveness assessment (CEA) scheme for drugs and medical devices in April…

In a change striking to the very core of the traditional Japanese salaryman, “We are seeing the coronavirus ushering in a new way of working… and I think it’s about time,” says Ivan Tselichtchev, Professor of Economics at the Niigata…