Japan strengthening biopharma capabilities

Asia's biopharma landscape is shifting rapidly toward innovation, with countries such as South Korea, Singapore, India, and Taiwan advancing R&D capabilities.

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Japan, after a period of slowing innovation, is repositioning biopharma as a strategic priority through regulatory reform, pricing policy changes, increased R&D funding, and startup support. Initiatives spanning regenerative medicine, digital transformation, and AI-driven drug discovery—backed by strong university—industry collaboration and venture funding—are revitalising Japan's ecosystem and positioning the country to re-emerge as a leading Asian biopharma innovation hub.

The Asian biopharma landscape is evolving rapidly and undergoing major shifts, expanding focus beyond generics and contract manufacturing. Over the years, South Korea, Singapore, India, and Taiwan have made rapid strides in terms of biopharma R&D, establishing themselves as innovation hubs.

On the other hand, Japan was previously a global biopharma and life sciences innovation leader, but innovation has slowed down in recent years. The number of new drug launches has reduced significantly, and this is attributable to pricing pressures and a relatively weakly funded biotech startup network compared to other Asian countries. Japan’s government and private sector are actively repositioning biopharma by increasing investment in biotech, supporting cross-border collaborations, and rolling out targeted incentives to attract high-value R&D and reshape the innovation ecosystem for the next decade.

Japan's pharmaceutical regulatory landscape is undergoing a significant transformation, which aims to mitigate the biopharma lag and enable Japan to remain competitive globally. It is reforming pricing policies and launching new funds and programmes to incentivise innovative drug discovery and support innovative drug discovery.