Pfizer: Hello, Korea. G’Bye Japan.
Make a commentBy Ed Silverman // June 13th, 2007 // 9:01 am
Just five months after announcing plans to close a research center in Japan, the drugmaker unveils plans to spend $300 million on research and development in South Korea, where it’s cheaper to do business. The cost of running clinical trials in Japan is rising, says Yoshihiro Arakawa, vice director of the University of Tokyo Hospital’s clinical research center. Japan’s government “is asking drugmakers to submit more paperwork than necessary for quality control,” Arakawa tells Bloomberg News. “That builds staff costs.”