TAPP Signs Coalition Letter Highlighting Drug Pricing Concerns Vis-à-vis Upcoming Japan Prime Minister Visit

The Trade Alliance to Promote Prosperity is a signatory on a letter from a coalition of 18 organizations to the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, urging the Trump administration to address deeply destructive regulations and price controls on the biopharmaceutical sector during upcoming discussions with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during her visit to Washington, D.C.

In part, the coalition wrote, “While recent Japanese investments in the U.S. are crucial to strengthening American supply chains, U.S. officials must pay close attention to the biopharmaceutical sector and how foreign regulations can hamper trade. For far too long, wealthy nations such as Japan have benefited from American medical innovation while implementing costly price controls on medications that result in higher prices on U.S. consumers.  Japan relies heavily on government price-setting policies that artificially suppress the price of innovative medicines. As a result, Japan pays roughly half as much as Americans do for new treatments—even when accounting for differences in economic output. These policies shift a disproportionate share of the cost of pharmaceutical research and development onto American patients and taxpayers, draining tens of billions of dollars from the innovation ecosystem each year and diverting resources away from job creation and biopharmaceutical development.”

Read the full letter here.