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 The step comes as Japan looks to boost the use of generics to 80
percent by September 2020 from about 56 percent now, thus saving the
government hundreds of billions of yen every year.
To ease the burden on the national health insurance system, the
government last month said it would consider having patients who
prefer expensive advance prescription drugs pay the difference in
cost over generic drugs.
In an annual draft of policy guidelines that incorporated the
change, the government also floated the idea of lowering the prices
of these prescription drugs to the levels of generic drugs.
But the proposals were missing from the final version of the annual
policy guidelines approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet on
Friday.
"These proposals serve as materials for consideration but should not
be taken as a certain course of direction," a Cabinet Office
official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
A decision made by the end of year would weigh up various factors,
he added, without elaborating.
The change followed deliberations on the draft by ruling party
officials, including those voicing the interests of drugmakers
worried about hits to revenues.
In December, the government said it would review official pricing
every year, instead of every two years, and would widen the review
to cover all prescription drugs, following drastic price cuts for
two blockbuster drugs.
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Previously the government only reviewed cases of a large discrepancy
between the official price, which determines how much the National
Health Insurance system reimburses medical providers, and the actual
price charged to wholesalers.
On the fiscal front, the government's policy guidelines set a new
fiscal goal, the ratio of debt to gross domestic product, along with
its primary budget surplus target, in what investors view as a shift
toward diluting fiscal reform.
The government's guidelines made no mention of a twice-delayed sales
tax hike to 10 percent from 8 percent now, a measure now planned for
October 2019, fuelling speculation that it is preparing to further
put it off.
Separately, Abe's cabinet also approved the government's economic
growth plans, which target package delivery by drone sometime in the
2020s.
(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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