This week, the Central Social Insurance Medical Council (“Chuikyo”) finalized the FY2024 National Health Insurance Drug Pricing System Reform Framework.
From the standpoint of the early-stage life science venture capital community, which aims to increase investment into the Japanese biopharmaceutical industry, we offer our support of these reforms.
Incubate is actively working to deepen ties between the Japanese marketplace and biotech start-ups. This past April we hosted a forum in partnership with Nikkei featuring leaders in academia, investment, and industry. It was evident from our forum that policy changes were essential for Japanese innovation to remain strong.
Stable policy environments incentivize investment in life-saving treatments with the goal of achieving a healthier society. In working towards this goal, we have sought for the value of innovative medicines to be appropriately reflected in pricing decisions made for Japan’s National Health Insurance System.
This is a positive step by the Japanese Government in demonstrating how it plans to value innovative medicines for its population. These policies act as a signal to global investors that Japan is focused on reinvigorating its life science community.
Incubate welcomes these reforms as they will help secure return on investment, creating more stability and confidence throughout the life sciences ecosystem. We would like to work with the Japanese Government on additional recommendations we see as paramount to early-stage investment.
There are several recommendations brought forth by the Expert Panel on Comprehensive Measures to Achieve a Rapid and Stable Supply of Pharmaceuticals which remain unresolved and unaddressed. Incubate hopes to play a role in developing a drug pricing system that is ripe for future investment, values new innovations, and maintains prices during the patented period. It is our belief that a system characterized by such will help ensure the early introduction of new medicines to patients. We look forward to fully participating in any future discussions regarding reform of the NHI drug pricing system.
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