The list covers 11 active ingredients in 30 presentations, most notably Japan’s top-selling prescription drug, Takeda’s Blopress (candesartan). The antidepressants to be repriced include Paxil (paroxetine, GlaxoSmithKline), Depromel/Luvox (fluvoxamine, Meiji Seika/Solvay/Astellas), J-Zoloft (sertraline, Pfizer), Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma’s Remicade (infliximab) and Astellas’s Prograf (tacrolimus).
Although the exact special price cut for each individual product has not been announced, the general reimbursement price revision in April is expected to average around 5% across the board, while original products subject to their first generic competition will see reductions of 4-6%. The repricing is allowed under a rule which provides for the reconsideration of reimbursement levels for products for which sales have gone far beyond official projections at the time of initial price listing.
The other sartan antihypertensives in Chuikyo’s sights are: Diovan (valsartan, Novartis), Micardis (telmisartan, Boehringer Ingelheim/Astellas), Nu-Lotan (losartan, Banyu/Merck & Co), Preminent (losartan plus hydrochlorothiazide, Banyu/Merck & Co) and Olmetec (olmesartan, Daiichi Sankyo).