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news.The Japanese government has officially confirmed that the next biennial reimbursement price reduction in Japan, effective April 1, 2008, will average 5.2% across the board, with additional one-off special cuts of around 10% for a number of prominent drugs, including angiotensin II antagonists, according to PJB news.
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The extraordinary price cuts will affect 11 active ingredients in 30 presentations. For the angiotensin II antagonists, the reduction is expected to be around 10%; the top product in the class is Takeda’s Blopress (candesartan). The other major selling drugs that are likely to be hit include: Olmetec (olmesartan, Daiichi Sankyo) Diovan (valsartan, Novartis), Nu-Lotan (losartan) Micardis (telmisartan, Boehringer Ingelheim/Astellas) and Preminent (losartan plus HCTZ, both Merck & Co/Banyu).
The price cuts are expected to lower the medical cost base by around one percent and reduce the value of Japan’s total prescription market by $3.92 billion. The revised prices are part of government’s efforts to rein in healthcare costs and bring reimbursement and actual (discounted) prices into line.
The SSRI antidepressants like Depromel/Luvox (fluvoxamine, Meiji Seika/Astellas), Paxil (paroxetine, GlaxoSmithKline) and J-Zoloft (sertraline, Pfizer) are also likely to face 10% price cuts. Astellas’s immunosuppressant Prograf (tacrolimus) and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma’s Remicade (infliximab, licensed from Johnson & Johnson) will also be affected by the revised prices.