Japan plans improved monitoring of new drugs

The Japanese health ministry will ask pharmaceutical companies to monitor the side effects of new drugs under plans it has submitted to politicians and industry leaders. Under the ministry's plan, companies would be obliged to collect data on adverse reactions to new products for a six month period after they come on to the market.

Although the ministry's drug safety division would continue to play a monitoring role, the onus of information collection and disclosure would be shifted onto corporations.

In recent years, the Japanese public has been shocked at the slow release of information aboutpotentially dangerous …