Japan has price-control laws that prevent pharma companies...

Japan has price-control laws that prevent pharma companies making more than something like a 20% profit on a drug/medication. On a side-note - that means they are making Ecclock for well less than $50 per month's supply, which bodies well for our US profit margins!

That sounds good for cheap medication in Japan, but it has severely curtailed Japanese biotech development and Japan’s share of global value in the pharmaceutical industry has declined by 70 percent, from 18.5 to 5.5 percent, between 1995-2018, apparently (not my research).

That and the US health system is really user-pay focussed.