Co-payments for off-patent medicines increase in October

As part of a system reform carried out in Japan in October, the co-payments of patients who choose the original version of drugs with an expired patent instead of generics will increase.

The aim of the revision is to reduce the country's overall medical costs by encouraging the use of generic drugs, which have the same effectiveness as the original drugs but are cheaper. The 1,095 items affected by the revision include moisturizing ointments and plasters.

Pharmacies and healthcare facilities urge patients to educate themselves about the change to avoid confusion.

Under the revised system, patients will have to pay a quarter of the price difference between original and generic drugs in addition to their co-payments, which generally range between 10 and 30 percent of medical costs.

However, the revised system will not cover cases where doctors prescribe brand-name drugs or where no generic alternatives are available at the pharmacy.

Due to government support for the use of generics, the penetration rate of such drugs has reached about 80% in volume terms, but in value terms it was only 56.7% in 2023.

As medical costs are expected to continue to rise due to the country's aging population, patients who continue to take brand-name drugs will face additional costs.

The 1,095 items subject to the new system are medicines for which generics came onto the market as an alternative more than five years ago or for which the use rate of generics as an alternative exceeded 50%.

The Health Ministry expects the system reform to reduce annual government spending by 11 billion yen and will examine whether the amount saved can be used to support drug development.