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Japan: The Final Frontier

Most western drug firms have shunned the Japanese market, regarded as highly problematic. But short on new products and with diminishing returns on investment at home, many are now taking a fresh look at the world's second largest health care market.

Most Western drug firms have for years regarded Japan—protected from foreign competition by cultural and regulatory barriers—as an important but highly problematic market. And as a result, most companies haven't paid it the kind of serious attention they've paid to the other major regions. But short on new products and with diminishing returns on investment at home, many are now taking a fresh look at the world's second largest health care market, according to Michael Devlin, a partner in McKinsey & Co.'s Tokyo office, who spoke at Windhover's 2001 Pharmaceutical Strategic Alliancesconference in September.

Although the $50 billion Japanese pharmaceutical market is bigger than that of the UK, Germany and France combined, it is...

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