After a year of revising and opening up its regulations for new drugs in 2023, Japan is aiming to add more reimbursement pricing premiums for innovative medicines in 2024, while cautiously discussing other detailed revisions to regulations and the pricing system.

Japan has approved abortion drug mifepristone but will limit its use to clinics with authorized physicians, with strict nationwide monitoring of sales. The majority of more than 10,000 public comments around the approval were in support of the new option for women. 

Five funds raised more than $1bn to back biotech firms; Arcus leads recent VC rounds with $107m GV-backed Series C; Celgene, Valeant sell notes to retire debt; and Alnylam cashes in on investor goodwill.

FDA’s “complete response” letter asks the company to reduce the rate of optical errors and improve the instructions for use of the patient-activated, hand-held analgesic system.