An Analysis of Pharmacoeconomic Studies in Japan

Abstract

We collected original published pharmacoeconomic studies conducted in Japan, through systematic database retrieval and other methods. Criteria for reviewing the studies were developed through an analysis of papers, textbooks, and regulatory guidelines in Australia, Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. The 10 Japan-based pharmacoeconomic studies were reviewed according to these criteria. A previous quality review of economic analyses in health care conducted in the U.S. was used as a reference for comparison. The overall quality of the Japan-based papers showed similar problems to the sample of U.S. papers on one criterion and ranked higher on two criteria. The analysis identified areas for improvement of Japan-based pharmacoeconomic studies, since most of the Japanese papers lacked some important elements of economic evaluation, such as clarification of viewpoints and sensitivity analysis on the discount rate.