As medical costs mount, Japan to weigh cost-effectiveness in setting drug prices

A staff member of the National Cancer Center Hospital shows the immune system-boosting cancer drug Opdivo during a photo opportunity at the hospital in Tokyo, Japan December 26, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese doctor Yasushi Goto remembers prescribing the cancer drug Opdivo to an octogenarian and wondering whether taxpayers might object to helping fund treatment, which at the time cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, for patients in their twilight years.

Japanese have easy access to new medicines, whose prices are decided by the government and subsidised by the country's public health insurance system.