Do Japanese Like Traditional Medicine?

Here are some market situation in Japan for Traditional Herbal/Medicines

1. Volume of Production of Modern and Herbal Medicines in Japan

2. Volume of Production of Herbal Medicines in Japan

3. Percentage of Herbal Medicines Production in Japan

Some Findings:

1. Percentage of herbal medicine is small (around 2% of total drug) in Japan.
2. (But) the growth rate of herbal medicine production is much higher than modern medicine.
3. Share of herbal medicine in non-prescription medicine is higher than ethical drug.

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4. Market Size for Herbal Medicine in Japan, 2010

If we compare these figures with those in 2009:

Type of Herbal Medicines		2009	2010
Nutritious supplement drink with herb		65,700	65,700
Other supplements		43,500	43,900
Digestive medicine		37,700	37,400
Cardiovascular  medicine		22,100	22,800
Cold medicine		20,100	20,100
	(in million JPY)

Finding:

1. Drink type nutritious supplement with herb is the biggest market in non-prescription herbal medicine.
2. Sales in each category are stable

 

5. Other related market trend

Herbal medicine in general (both ethical drug and non-prescription drug)

1. Total worldwide annual sales of herbal medicine is around $ 80 billion, among that China has 10% share. (2013)
2. More than 70% of international patent about herbal medicine is obtained by Japan and Korea. China has only 0.3%
3. Preventive care is now becoming more popular in Japan because increase of social security expenses due to aging society is a huge burden
4. Kampo based on herbal medicine is regarded as a good measure for preventive care, and demand for herbal medicine is increasing. For example, problems regarding residual pesticides in herbal plants are typical concerns to consumers
5. Evaluating effectiveness of herbal medicine through scientific measurements is critical to gain market share

Herbal medicine in non-prescription drug

1. Government are encouraging self-medication which relies on non-prescription drug in order to reduce cost of medical care
2. In order to make it easy for consumers to select non-prescription medicine, drug legislation has changed in 2009 which categorizes non-prescription medicine depend on its risk
3. The new legislation also helps to increase the number of sales channel because most of the non-prescription medicines except for a few number of risky ones can be sold by non-pharmacist under the new legislation
4. Also, many new non-prescription medicines (OTC medicines) which contain the same effective ingredients as ethical drugs were launched.
5. In the category of non-prescription drug, herbal medicines are gaining popularity mainly due to three reasons: unique effectiveness specific to herbal medicine, sense of safety from natural ingredients, and moderate effect
6. Herbal medicine and herb related maintains its steady sales in difficult market environment