New Year's Greetings for 2025
Last year was a year of great political upheaval as well as a series of disasters and conflicts both at home and abroad. In the U.S., President Biden of the Democratic Party withdrew from the election and Mr. Trump of the Republican Party won re-election as President. The global situation remains unpredictable, with North Korea dispatching soldiers to the war in Ukraine, the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip in Israel, the collapse of the Syrian regime, and political unrest in South Korea. In Japan, the Ishiba administration came to power in October, but the ruling party lost many seats in the House of Representatives election in November, and the foundation of the government remains unstable. The yen's depreciation and rising prices show no sign of abating, and many of the Japanese people are anxious about the situation.
Hiroaki Ueno, Chairman, Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association
In addition, Noto suffered a major earthquake in January and flood damage in September. I would like to express my gratitude to all the medical personnel who, under extremely difficult circumstances, worked with a sense of mission to provide medical treatment and dispensing of medicines at the site and at rear hospital beds. On the other hand, the suspension of shipments and limited shipments of pharmaceutical products are far from eradicated, despite industry-wide efforts to improve the situation, and for this we offer our deepest apologies.
In the midst of this situation, there were some positive signs for the pharmaceutical industry: the drug price system reform in FY2024 has been steered in the direction of valuing innovation, and the drug lag/loss countermeasures have triggered a review of regulations in the pharmaceutical affairs system to match the actual situation. In addition, the Drug Discovery Ecosystem Summit was held in the summer, and the pharmaceutical industry was positioned as a growth and key industry in Japan, with a public-private sector council established to strengthen drug discovery capabilities through cooperation between the public and private sectors.
This year, Japan will enter a super-aging society where all baby boomers will be elderly in the latter half of their lives. As social security costs are expected to increase, it is inevitable that medical care will become more efficient through the use of digital technology such as Mynacard authentication. In response, we, pharmaceutical companies, would like to support the Japanese economy by extending the healthy life expectancy of the people and increasing the productive population through the creation of innovative pharmaceutical products. The government's "Third Stage Health and Medical Care Strategy," which will be launched in April this year, will include measures to strengthen drug discovery capabilities, and the supplementary budget will also include support for the development of a drug discovery ecosystem. Although many changes are expected in Japan and abroad this year, and challenges are piling up, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Japan (PMAJ) will continue to fulfill its mission of "delivering essential medicines to patients" without changing the trend of innovation promotion.
In closing, I would like to wish you all a very happy new year.