OBJECTIVE: Since August 1992, materials on pharmacoeconomic evaluations (PEs) have been accepted by the government during new drug price negotiations in Japan. The aim of this study was to investigate the current status of use of PEs by pharmaceutical companies during price negotiations. METHODS: A questionnaire was sent to all pharmaceutical companies that had entered new drug price negotiations with the government between December 2000 to December 2002. Eighty-two price negotiations were made during this period. RESULTS: Ninety-one questionnaires, which covered all 82 negotiations, were returned. PEs were submitted for 19 products (23%). Only one company stated that submission of the PE had resulted in a better pricing decision. Most companies pointed out the shortage of epidemiologic data, such as for progression of disease and number of patients, and lack of PE guidelines, as problems associated with encouraging PEs. CONCLUSIONS: The submission rate was significantly lower than in previous survey results. One of the reasons appeared to be the low level of interest in PEs by the government. If the government continues to hesitate to utilize PE submissions for evidence-based decision making, it is difficult to foresee any improvement in the quality and quantity of PEs by Japanese pharmaceutical companies. For PE submissions to be appropriately and effectively used in policy making, such as pricing decisions, the cooperation of academics, government, and industry is urgently needed to draw up PE guidelines to standardize research methods and develop epidemiology databases as reliable data sources for PE.