The President of the Italian Medicines Agency, Robert Nisticò, led a delegation – which also included Board member Emanuele Monti and Dr Armando Magrelli from the International Relations Office – on an official visit to Japan.

Two bilateral meetings were the highlight of the visit, historically the first of its kind to Japan: 

• with senior officials from the Japanese Ministry of Health: an in-depth discussion on national health policies, in a country that has made longevity a cornerstone of its welfare system;
• with the Directorate-General of the Japanese Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) and its President, Yasuhiro Fujiwara: a strategic dialogue on regulatory models, with particular attention to the shared challenges facing the two countries’ systems and opportunities for future collaboration.

The initiative was supported by the Italian Embassy in Tokyo and aimed to facilitate discussion on strategic public health issues and to promote the sharing of best practices for the benefit of citizens.

“During the bilateral meetings, I had the opportunity to engage with the heads of Japan’s healthcare institutions, initiating a constructive dialogue on crucial issues such as research and innovation, longevity and the management of chronic conditions, polypharmacy in elderly patients, the use of AI in the regulatory sphere, and the sustainability of healthcare systems. These are areas in which Italy and Japan, both having universal healthcare systems, face shared challenges, and where it is essential to strengthen dialogue and the exchange of experiences. In an increasingly complex global context, cooperation between institutions is key to ensuring access to safe, effective and innovative treatments,” said AIFA President Robert Nisticò.

Emanuele Monti, the Ministry of Economy’s representative at AIFA, stated: “Japan has adopted innovative policies to address its ageing population and the resulting increased costs, which have made it possible to contain pharmaceutical expenditure whilst ensuring rapid access to innovation, representing a model worth exploring further within the framework of cooperation between our two countries”.