Healthcare

July 2003

Drugmakers in Japan are raising awareness of illnesses. Major pharmaceutical makers operating in Japan are trying to provide consumers with more information about illnesses and their treatment to boost sales of their own pharmaceutical products. The drugmakers are using the Internet and other means to provide explanations about illnesses in which there is a high level of interest, such as depression. Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc. has begun an educational campaign on migraine headaches. It is also offering an Internet search service of medical institutions that provide migraine treatment. Pfizer hopes that the efforts will help boost sales of its migraine drug, Relpax. The pharmaceutical company is also making use of advertising to speed up clinical testing. It has been running ads in newspapers and over the Internet since June in a search for test participants who have experienced panic attacks. Novartis Pharma KK is providing information on the toenail and fingernail infection tinea unguium through television commercials. The drugmaker hopes that better knowledge of the condition will lead to wider treatment and sales of its medication Lamisil. GlaxoSmithKline KK is raising awareness about depression, and among Japanese drugmakers, Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. is carrying out educational efforts in regard to prostatic hypertrophy. (Ｊｕｌｙ 31, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun)

Japan's drug pricing system requires change. Pfizer Inc. will need to see changes in Japan's drug pricing system to warrant continued strong investments, according to the company's Chief Executive Officer Henry McKinnell. Pfizer's CEO said that Pfizer will press the Japanese government for changes in the nation's drug pricing system so that the company will be able to recoup R&D costs. Following Pfizer's purchase of Pharmacia Corp., the Japan arms of the two companies are set to merge in August. McKinnell expressed strong hopes for the new combined firm in Japan, but expressed discontent with government drug price regulations, which have kept the nation's pharmaceutical market from growing for 10 years.　　(July 31, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun)