Huge profit from drugs

Article Abstract:

In Japan, physicians and hospitals purchase medications from pharmaceutical companies at substantial discounts, prescribe them to patients, and are then reimbursed by the government at a much higher rate. Doctors and hospitals are making huge profits from prescribing drugs, which has resulted in unnecessary use of prescription drugs. While the discounting system has been in place for some time, a Japanese government official for the first time released the dollar value of the profits. The annual discrepancy between the discounted price and official government reimbursement adds up to nearly $10 billion. In contrast to most developed countries, where physicians are not allowed to sell medications, most Japanese physicians and hospitals have their own pharmacies on the premises. Because they profit from every prescription, doctors have a strong incentive to overprescribe drugs. The system is wasting funds for medical care and is potentially harmful to the health of many patients. Antibiotics are freely ordered for various minor infections; in other countries they are used only when needed because of the risk that antibiotic-resistant bacteria will develop. Blood products imported cheaply from the United States in the early 1980s included blood infected with AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome); most of the estimated 1,000 infected persons in Japan are hemophiliacs who received these imported products. Doctors and hospitals may be forced to give up the profits and switch to a system of independent pharmacies, but this process may take 10 to 15 years. Currently, pharmaceutical companies are pleased with their high sales in Japan, doctors enjoy their profits, and even the Japanese public appears content to receive large quantities of medications.

Evaluation, Drugs, Pharmaceutical industry, Ethical aspects, Dosage and administration, Drug administration and dosage, Pharmaceutical services, Drug utilization, Drug monitoring, Pharmaceutical policy

---

Blood products: avoiding imports in Japan

Article Abstract:

In the past Japan has imported blood products, primarily from the United States, that are used by hemophiliacs to provide the clotting factors that are lacking in their blood. However, the incidence of AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, among hemophiliacs has increased, due to contamination of donated blood with the AIDS virus. By 1991, blood coagulants will be produced only from domestic blood and will be produced by the Japanese Red Cross and not by private companies. This will result in raising the price of blood coagulants. On a per capita basis, Japan uses more than twice the amount of blood products than other countries. They are readily prescribed by doctors because of the large profit that the hospitals can make. The pharmaceutical companies sell imported blood products at a lower cost than the official price set by the Japanese government for domestic products, allowing for profit. Part of the cost problem associated with domestic blood products is related to the method of collecting donated blood by using mobile vans, which are not cost effective. Although Japan has a very high blood donation rate, the majority of the this blood is used for transfusions. There are plans to encourage increased donations, but even with the increase, it would be difficult to meet the current demand for blood products. A new technique of isolating the blood coagulants has been developed recently in the US, which would increase the yield, but it is also very expensive. The shift to using blood products derived only form domestic blood in Japan will cause many problems, with the solutions resulting in higher costs to users.

Equipment and supplies, International trade, Drug therapy, AIDS (Disease), Blood plasma, Hemophiliacs, Plasma products

---

Documents confirm delays in Japanese HIV blood scandal

Article Abstract:

Japanese health minister Naoto Kan has released more evidence confirming the ministry's role in the infection of Japanese haemophiliacs with HIV through contaminated blood products in the 1980s. Document extracts showed that the ministry considered importing US blood coagulants heat-treated to kill viruses as an emergency measure in 1983. However, the ministry dropped the idea partly to protect the local blood product industry.

Cases, HIV infection, HIV infections, Japan. Ministry of Health and Welfare

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Multiple benefits of gregariousness cover detectability costs in aposematic aggregations. Tracking the evolution of warning signals
• Abstracts: A progeroid syndrome in mice is caused by defects in A-type lamins. Lessons from human progeroid syndromes
• Abstracts: Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds in deciduous forests in Japan. Marten habitat selection in a clearcut boreal landscape
• Abstracts: Examining fragmentation and loss of primary forest in the southern Bahaman Atlantic forest of Brazil with Radar imagery
• Abstracts: Effectiveness in conservation practice: Pointers from medicine and public health. Cash interests taint drug advice

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.