Monthly Archives: June 2008

A new ‘layer’ of long-awaited Japanese healthcare reforms were enacted as of April 2008. They are aimed at increasing the use of generic drugs to 12% by 2010 (from 2007 level of 5.2% by value). Japan currently lags far behind other regulated markets in terms of generic use: 16.8% in Japan versus 54% in USA, 52% in UK, and 55% in Germany, by volume. Key factors that contribute to poor generic uptake in Japan are: 1) low margins received by…

Structural reforms lead to weeding out unhealthy competition During 2006 and 2007, the India Rx market bucked the trend of the previous five years by growing at 18% and 13% respectively vs an average growth of 8-9% during 2001 to 2005. This upward trend is the result of several reforms that have helped reduce fragmentation by weeding out unhealthy competition from unorganized and small players. By 2007, approximately 2000 units (40% of the unorganized sector, in terms of business units)…