HGPI held the second meeting of the “Rebalancing Healthcare Systems: Innovation and Sustainability” Taskforce on the topic of the “Measures to Effectively Control Costs for Research and Development and to Improve Market Access.”

Since the achievement of universal health coverage in 1961, the Japanese health system has supported the growth of the one of the healthiest and longest living populations in the world. As that population continues to age, Japan is being presented with a tremendous opportunity: to show the rest of the world how a super-aging society can successfully maintain a national health insurance system that works for all generations, and that can incorporate medical innovations and ensure healthy longevity even under circumstances in which members of the population regularly live to over 100-years of age.

As part of its “Rebalancing Healthcare Systems: Innovation and Sustainability” project, HPGI has formed a taskforce to debate policy measures that can support the achievement of such a system. This taskforce aims to produce an expert report on the health policy opportunities available to Japan within FY2020.

At this second taskforce meeting, taskforce members discussed the state of regulatory science in Japan, and the potential of policy measures in this field to increase access to medicine and improve the overall efficiency of the Japanese healthcare system.

■Overview
Date and time: Monday, November 18, 2019
Organizer: HGPI

■Program
Presentation “An Overview of Regulatory Science with a Particular Focus on Medical Devices and Equipment”
Mitsuo Umezu (Director, Institute for Medical Regulatory Science, Waseda University)

Taskforce Discussion
Taskforce Members (alphabetical order by last name):
Hirokazu Yoshii (Special Advisor to the President, Health Insurance Claims Review & Reimbursement Services)
Ataru Igarashi (Associate Professor, Unit of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Yokohama City University of Medicine / Visiting Associate Professor, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo / Fellow, HGPI)
Satoshi Imamura (Vice-President, Japan Medical Association)
Isao Kamae (Project Professor, Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo)
Toshio Nagase (Senior Director, Government Affairs Japan, Gilead Science K.K.)
Hiroshi Nakamura (Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration, Keio University)
Kazumasa Oguro (Professor, Faculty of Economics, Hosei University)
Naokazu Saito (Director, Policy Intelligence Department, Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K.)
Mitsuo Umezu (Director, Institute for Medical Regulatory Science, Waseda University)

Observers:
Masami Sakoi (Assistant Minister, Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW))
Kazumi Nishikawa (Director, Healthcare Industries Division, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI))

Moderators (alphabetical order by last name):
Joji Sugawara (Senior Associate, HGPI)
Mitsuo Umezu (Director, Institute for Medical Regulatory Science, Waseda University)