Challenges and Prospects in the Medical Device Industry : Heading toward a Leading Japanese Industry

This paper examines the challenges and prospects for further development of the medical device industry, which is becoming increasingly important as an industry that leads innovation and contributes to medical care. Issues include insufficient understanding of the industry as a whole due to the wide range of medical devices, inadequate insurance reimbursement systems to evaluate new innovations, and a shortage of database development and utilization. There are still insufficient industrial promotion measures, and how to ensure the balance between the sustainability of the medical insurance system and the reimbursement of medical equipment with the aging of the population and the rapid decline in the working generation is also of critical importance. In the future, based on these issues, it is necessary to promote product development from the patient’s perspective under an insurance reimbursement system that can appropriately evaluate innovation, and to achieve both further international expansion and a stable domestic supply.