Japan Insurance Won't Cover Viagra, Tokyo Shimbun Says(Update1)
Bloomberg News
March 7, 1999, 12:54 a.m. ET
Japan Insurance Won't Cover Viagra, Tokyo Shimbun Says(Update1)
(Adding background on Viagra, birth-control pill.)
Tokyo, March 7 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's Ministry of Health and
Welfare said prescriptions of Pfizer Inc.'s impotence drug Viagra
will not be covered by national health insurance, a setback that
could hurt sales, the Tokyo Shimbun reported.
The ministry also indicated that the birth control pill,
expected to be given final approval by the government later this
year, will not be covered by the insurance system either.
Viagra is intended more to improve one's quality of life
rather than treat a specific illness, the newspaper cited the
ministry as saying, indicating it views impotence as a natural
consequence of getting older. The article did not specify how the
ministry would view younger individuals suffering from the same
problem. Likewise, birth control pills are not generally intended
as a treatment for illness, the ministry said, according to the
report.
Efforts to contact ministry officials for comment were
unsuccessful. The ministry is obliged to tell Pfizer by March 25
-- 60 days after its approval -- whether Viagra will be covered
by national health insurance.
Forcing potential users to pay for the drug themselves may
crimp sales. Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc., Pfizer's Japanese
subsidiary, has not released a sales projection for Viagra, but
is projecting an 86 percent jump in overall revenue to 268
billion yen ($2.2 billion) by November 2002, said unit President
Leslie Patterson. The company will begin selling Viagra in Japan
this month.
Viagra became the world's fastest-growing prescription drug
after its introduction last year in the U.S., Europe and
elsewhere. The drug generated sales of $788 million between its
debut the first week of April and Dec. 31.
New York-based Pfizer has high hopes for Viagra in Japan,
with its growing elderly population. Japan accounts for 20
percent of the world's annual drug sales, and is the 54th nation
to approve Viagra. Asia is the Pfizer group's third-biggest
revenue source, generating 13 percent of sales, after the U.S.
and Europe.
Bitterness Over Pill
The swift approval of Viagra -- the government debated just
six months -- is in stark contrast to the ministry's handling of
the birth control pill, setting off a debate in Japan about the
fairness of its male-oriented society.
After more than nine years of pondering the advantages and
drawbacks of oral contraceptives, the Health Ministry said last
week it aims to approve the Pill by June and make it available
later in the year.
Nine companies, including Daiichi Pharmaceutical Corp.,
Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co., Meiji Seika Ltd. and Teikoku
Hormone Manufacturing Co., have applied to sell the Pill in
Japan.
Before final approval is granted on June 2, the ministry
will hold more debate on what information needs to be given to
patients, including a warning that the Pill isn't 100 percent
effective and that unprotected sex could expose users to sexually
transmitted diseases, said Toshiki Hirai, an official at the
ministry's Pharmaceutical and Medical Safety Bureau.
Yet the Pill is unlikely to be covered by national health
insurance, he said.
--Minoru Matsutani in the Tokyo newsroom with reporting by Ryoko
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