21 December 2016 - Ono Pharmaceutical Co cut its annual profit outlook by a quarter on Wednesday, hit by the Japanese government's decision to halve the price of cancer drug Opdivo that it co-developed with BMS.

Last month, the government halved the price of Opdivo, which has been approved in Japan to treat advanced melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer and kidney cancer, on fears that a rapid uptake of the medicine would prove an intolerable burden on the national health insurance system.

The cut, which will be effective from February, brought the price more into line with pricing in the United States and the Japanese government was widely seen as having initially priced it too high.

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