*Registration Closed.
We sincerely appreciate the many registrations we received.

Notification of Lottery Results: Thursday, October 30, 2025 by 15:00

As medical advances and the growing elderly population continue to drive up healthcare costs, the challenge of achieving both the appropriate evaluation of innovation and a sustainable healthcare system, while concurrently promoting the establishment of an effective and efficient medical system, has become a global issue. This concern is shared not only by Japan but by many other countries that maintain a public healthcare system.

Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) has long facilitated multi-stakeholder discussions, extending beyond individual diseases to address the nature of the healthcare system itself, including the drug pricing system and the drug discovery ecosystem. In 2024, to advance deliberations on balancing the sustainability of the healthcare system with innovation, particularly through the lens of drug pricing policy, we established a multi-stakeholder panel centered on patients and stakeholders. This has created an opportunity for diverse parties to informally express their views. Furthermore, we have also hosted a roundtable discussion titled “U.S. – Japan Joint Roundtable on “Navigating Biopharma Innovation with Patient Engagement Towards a Healthy Aging Society” as a platform for dialogue between patients, stakeholders, and global counterparts.

Up to this point, numerous policy options have been proposed by industry, government, academia, and civil society to harmonize the sustainability of the healthcare system with innovation. Stakeholders have continuously examined, decided upon, and implemented the effectiveness and feasibility of these options over many years. However, with the sustainability of the healthcare system now under severe threat, it is crucial not just to present specific policy options but also to re-examine the processes of consensus building, policy coordination, and negotiation, and to offer alternatives for how to proceed.

The increasing transparency of information, with the generalization of online broadcasts and the publication of meeting minutes, has significantly improved patient and stakeholder access to information. Conversely, this has sometimes made the delicate consensus-building role traditionally played by conventional deliberative councils more challenging. Therefore, this forum will bring together stakeholders who have been involved in major reforms and institutional changes surrounding Japan’s healthcare system. They will touch upon the actual difficulties in coordinating and negotiating within the healthcare system and discuss various options from multiple perspectives. This includes not only debates on suppressing benefits like social security costs but also the option of increasing individual financial burdens.

As the healthcare system—including drug pricing, drug discovery, and stable supply—faces a major turning point, this forum aims to serve as a catalyst for discussing how to build consensus on the complex policy challenge of rebalancing benefits and burdens, and to contribute directly to the consensus-building process itself.

 

Registration Deadline: Tuesday, October 28, 23:59 JST
Notification of Lottery Results: Thursday, October 30, 2025 by 15:00
*If there are still available seats at the time of the application deadline, the application period may be extended. However, as a general rule, we cannot accommodate individual participation requests after the application deadline.
**After registration is complete, please enter the required information such as your name and email address via the “Apply Here” button above. An automatic confirmation email will be sent after your application. If you do not receive the email, please contact the HGPI secretariat at info@hgpi.org.

[Event Overview]

• Date & Time: Wednesday, November 5, 2025; 10:00-11:30 (Reception opens at 9:45) JST
• Format: In-person Only
• Venue: Global Business Hub Tokyo
  (3F Otemachi Financial City Grand Cube, 1-9-2 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0004)
• Language: Japanese only
• Participation Fee: Free
• Organizer: Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI)
• Capacity: 40 participants (lottery-based selection if applications exceed capacity)
• Rules: Chatham House Rule
  (The Chatham House Rule refers to a meeting format in which discussions are held off-the-record and speakers remain unidentified. This rule aims to facilitate an honest and vigorous debate by ensuring anonymity.)

[Program] (Titles omitted; in no particular order)

10:00-10:10 Explanatory Introduction

10:10-10:40 Keynote Lecture “Japan’s Public Finances: Facing Inconvenient Truths and Finding a Way Forward”

Koji Yano (Director, Institute of Social Security Policy, International University of Health and Welfare/ Former Vice-Minister of Finance)

10:40-11:25 Panel discussion and Q&A Session

Shinsuke Amano (Chair, The Japan Federation of Cancer Patient Groups/ CEO, Group Nexus Japan)
Ataru Igarashi (Project Associate Professor, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
The University of Tokyo/ Visiting Associate Professor, Graduate School of Data Science, Yokohama City University)
Yasuhiro Suzuki (President, International University of Health and Welfare/ Former Chief Medical and Global Health Officer, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare)
Koji Yano(Director, Institute of Social Security Policy, International University of Health and Welfare/ Former Vice-Minister of Finance)

Moderator: Yui Kohno (Manager, Health and Global Policy Institute)

11:25-11:30 Closing remarks

11:30-12:00 Networking