OTCs in Japan
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Over-the-counter drugs may be sold in Japan when pharmacists are not present in stores, provided that a staff member at the retail outlet consults with an on-call pharmacist through videophone, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour & Welfare decides in a Jan. 22 report. The "deregulation" will result in the late-night sale of OTCs from 10 pm to 6 am, when pharmacists are not on staff, according to a spokesperson from the Japanese Embassy. In a recent letter, CHPA urged the U.S. Trade Representative to consider distribution restrictions on nonprescription drugs in Japan as a trade barrier to entry for American firms (1"The Tan Sheet" Jan. 5, 2004, p. 10)...
You may also be interested in...
Japanese Ministry Of Health Looks To Revise OTC Retailing Regulations
Risk-based classification for OTC drugs in Japan is an issue that will figure prominently during a Nov. 15 meeting of a Working Group established by the government's "Task Force to Study Pharmaceutical Retailing.
Japan OTC Retail, Advertising Barriers Should Be Addressed By USTR – CHPA
The Consumer Healthcare Products Association urges the U.S. Trade Representative in recent comments "to draw attention to OTC medicine distribution restrictions" in Japan as an "indirect barrier to market entry" in its upcoming annual report on foreign trade barriers
Chinese Firms Up Their Game In Novel Flu Antiviral Development
Joincare Pharmaceutical and partner TaiGen Biotechnology tout preliminary Phase III results in uncomplicated acute influenza for TG-1000, a homegrown follower of Shionogi/Roche’s oral antiviral Xofluza. Novel antivirals for flu were hotly pursued by Chinese developers throughout 2023.