The gradual liberalization of the pharmaceutical industry and
the Japanese pharmaceutical market

Under the Japanese health insurance system, all citizens subscribe to medical insurance. Medical expenses are covered by public spending, by the patient, and by national insurance premiums. These expenses are rising, especially because of the sharp rise in the number of senior citizens together with their increasing medical needs.

Patient disclosure, including informed consent and the growing practice of disclosing patients' clinical records, has raised public interest in health and medical care to extremely high levels. In addition, pharmaceutical companies can now use direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads to inform people about certain diseases, and recent deregulation allows ads to solicit subjects for drug testing. These trends have invigorated pharmaceutical companies' newspaper advertising.