SERVICES

Japan

Many multinational organisations struggle to penetrate Japan’s pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, for several reasons.

Firstly, Japan’s pharmaceutical industry has a unique and complex regulatory and reimbursement environment, which has been subject to continuous policy changes in recent years. Although the government is attempting to address its weak domestic R&D sector – resulting in encouraging improvements in clinical trials and regulation – there is still a significant disconnect to the pricing and reimbursement environment. New medicines continue to face strong cost containment pressure, leading to an unstable and unpredictable market.

Secondly, working in Japan requires a complex set of knowledge and understanding. This spans everything from the commercial setting, health policy in Japan and the highly complex healthcare and reimbursement systems, to an understanding of the unique cultural environment.

As a result, it can be challenging to have clear and effective communication between global teams and the local affiliates or local partner organisations such as CROs or manufacturers.

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We work with our Japanese partners to bridge this gap from both sides, using our insider understanding to craft a planned, considered approach that works for all levels of seniority. This ensures you are spending time and resources on approaches which work with the Japanese pharmaceutical industry, avoiding costly delays and even failure.

Few consultancies are set up as well as Confluence to navigate this critical market. After many years of working with companies and clients to shape health policy in Japan, we know how to facilitate interaction between you and key Japanese stakeholders.

Whether it’s influencing pharmaceutical public policy positions within trade associations or directly with stakeholders, crafting advocacy strategy, evidence, messaging and materials or bringing together stakeholders, we can act as a trusted partner in bringing your next innovation to market.

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Public policy and environment-shaping

Shaping public policy in a highly complex but critical market like Japan is not easy, especially for foreign headquartered companies. Strategies need to be technically strong but also culturally aligned to ensure maximum success.

With our connections across government, industry, and the health system in Japan, we help you to engage effectively with officials and decision makers to meaningfully influence policy.

Stakeholder co-operation and engagement

It can be nearly impossible for those without specific knowledge of the Japanese market to understand the layers of nuance necessary when communicating with different stakeholders.

This means knowing how to work with stakeholders across different levels of seniority and in different contexts.

Our experience in Japan allows us to work with and act as a bridge between you and your Japanese stakeholders.

Corporate internal communication

For foreign-owned corporations, cultural differences in ways of operating in Japan and different styles of communication can lead to misunderstandings and slow down or hinder internal collaboration.

We can support you to get the right tone and approach in your corporate internal communication and maximum value out of the activities of your local team.