Japan to Allow Conditional Use of Original Drugs for Welfare Recipients

February 4, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's welfare ministry plans to conditionally allow pharmacists to dispense original drugs to people on welfare in an envisaged law amendment to set the principle of using generic drugs to those people, according to informed sources.

The ministry aims to introduce a bill to amend the public assistance law and implement in October the revised law with the basic rule stipulating the use of such low-cost drugs to welfare recipients, in a move to cut the government's medical expenses under the national health insurance scheme.

The ministry has already asked pharmacists to dispense generics to relievers. But original drugs have been given to them at their request.

In a Finance Ministry survey, 67.2 pct of pharmacies that had dispensed original drugs despite doctors' permission to use generics answered that the switch was requested by welfare recipients, while 28.8 pct cited stock shortages.

With the planned law revision, such a wish-based switch will not be allowed.

But informed sources said if generics are out of stock, originals will be dispensed.If a reliever's doctor recommends originals taking into account the patient's medication history and other data, a local welfare office will consider the advisability, they added. Jiji Press