Japan launches own national R&D agency

Japan is to launch its new Agency for Medical Research and Development today, which is envisioned to be a Japanese version of the USA’s National Institutes of Health.

It will have approximately 300 staff, including former employees of the pharma industry, and has been granted a 140 billion yen ($1.2 billion) research budget by different government ministries to be allocated across nine research fields. Drug development studies will be one of the new Agency’s responsibilities, and the Drug Discovery Support Network will also be its responsibility. At present, it plans to conduct a dementia survey of 10,000 people to identify genetic markers, and research on pluripotent stem cells. The Agency will devise ways of using compounds owned by pharma companies and help facilitate multidisciplinary research.

Japan has a 2.5 trillion yen import surplus in medical products and devices, and the new research agency is aiming to develop new products domestically.