title: Rare diseases, orphan drugs, and their regulation in Asia: Current status and future perspectives.
abstract: Rare diseases are an important public health issue and a challenge to medical care. Specific legislation to encourage research of rare diseases and development of orphan drugs has been adopted in the United States (US), the European Union (EU), and elsewhere. In recent years, much progress has been made in some parts of Asia, including Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, with the enactment of legislation and accompanying regulation of rare diseases and orphan drugs. China is also actively promoting the regulation of rare diseases and orphan drugs. We describe the current status of the regulation of rare diseases and orphan drugs in Asia and we comparatively analyze the regulation of rare diseases and orphan drugs worldwide in order to examine the challenges to and future perspectives on promoting research on rare diseases and development of orphan drugs in China and other Asian countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Peipei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Jianjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshinori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Inagaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Norihiro
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kokudo
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tang
keywords: Orphan diseases; incentives; legislation; orphan drugs; reimbursement