Abstract
The keyword, life cycle management(LCM)of medicines has recently attracted attention, because the patents of many blockbuster drugs will expire or have expired around 2010. There are many strategies for LCM, and drug delivery system(DDS)is one of the useful approaches. But, it seemed that the development of DDS medicines in Japan was a little bit difficult compared to that in US or Europe. There were many factors such as drug price system, safety tests of new additives, etc. The circumstances for DDS development in Japan have recently become much better through the political efforts of Japanese government.
