Marketing pharmaceuticals in Japan: background and the experience of US firms

States that although Japan’s pharmaceutical industry has succeeded in steadily advancing its total sales revenues in recent years, its market share of worldwide volume has actually retreated slightly. Its major competitor continues to be the USA, while its three top European rivals: Germany, France and Italy ‐ in combination ‐ have consistently outperformed Japan. Significantly, Japan remains the single largest recipient of US pharmaceutical exports with a surplus over imports of more than $500 billion. Discusses various findings based on survey results within Japan’s market structure. Posits that the US experience shows that successfully operating on the Japanese market requires considerable preparation, especially in the areas of distribution and promotion. Owing to the technical segmentation and endemic distribution system of the Japanese pharmaceutical industry, concludes that it is unlikely that the pharmaceutical industry in Japan will rise to dominate this industrial sector on a global basis as they have prevailed in others.