Posted by Michael Wonder on 14 Dec 2017
Japan to cut price of infamously expensive cancer drug again
14 December 2017 - Government, which already halved Opdivo price, seeks more cost relief.
A cancer drug widely seen as a symbol of exorbitant health care costs is about to get cheaper in Japan, when the health ministry updates government-administered prescription drug prices for next fiscal year.
The price of the drug Opdivo -- which was initially 730,000 yen ($6,429) for a 100 mg bottle -- was already halved this past February. But the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare intends to create a new mechanism for reviewing official prices of drugs when positive results lead to higher dosages.
