Japan PM’s advisers urge annual review of drug prices

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic advisers, hoping to curb Japan's ballooning healthcare costs, proposed on Wednesday reforms to the way drug prices are set, a step opposed by foreign and domestic drug makers who say the changes will stifle investment. The proposals follow a decision to halve the price of Bristol Myers Squibb Co's cancer drug Opdivo last month, and an earlier move to slash the price of Gilead Science Inc's highly effective but expensive hepatitis C drug Sovaldi. The four private-sector advisers at Abe's Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP) proposed reviewing all prescription drug prices, which are set by the government, at least annually, rather than once every two years as currently.