TOKYO: The Japanese government plans to reduce the official prices for nearly half of all drugs under the public health insurance program in its fiscal 2025 revision, informed sources said Friday.

This is expected to cut national medical expenses by some 250 billion yen, alleviating burdens on patients while squeezing the pharmaceutical industry.

The decision will be formalized next week.

In principle, official drug prices are revised every two years along with medical fees. But the government has been revising them every year since fiscal 2021 to eliminate gaps between market and official prices.

In a survey for September this year, market prices were 5.2 pct lower than official prices on average.

Main targets of the price cuts will be original drugs with expired patents that have generic versions.

The government will also take special measures such as raising the official prices for items that have high medical need but became unprofitable and maintaining the current prices for innovative drugs.

JIJI Press