Research & Development Committee
Interview with Chairman Tsukahara
How can we strengthen Japan's drug discovery capabilities and create innovations that rank with the world? This is a fundamental theme for the pharmaceutical industry. Co-creation," in which pharmaceutical companies, academia, and the national government work together beyond their respective boundaries, is indispensable to achieving this goal. The Research and Development Committee, as the core of the committee, is charged with the mission of promoting drug discovery innovation. We asked Chairman Katsuhira Tsukahara about the challenges the committee faces and the concrete steps it is taking to resolve them.
Realizing Innovation through Co-Creation
A system that allows people to try again and again to create value that will change the future
The gap between "academia" and "pharmaceutical companies" must be bridged
The mission of the R&D Committee is to promote "drug discovery innovation that changes the future. To achieve this mission, we aim to strengthen Japan's drug discovery capabilities by encouraging R&D by member companies through policy proposals to AMED (Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development) and government ministries and agencies, and by promoting open innovation.
However, there is a major challenge along the way. That is the deep "gap" that exists between "academia," which conducts the basic research that is the source of drug discovery, and "pharmaceutical companies," which develop the products known as drugs.
The root cause of this gap lies in the different roles of the two. Researchers in academia have the noble goal of "searching for the truth," such as elucidating the causes of disease. Pharmaceutical companies, on the other hand, aim to "develop products" that are effective and safe. The wonderful discoveries of academia do not necessarily lead directly to drug discovery. This reality makes communication between the two difficult.
I feel that this structure is also rooted in cultural differences between Japan and the United States. In the U.S., a model has been established where university-launched startups attract investment and promote development, but in Japan, the culture of entrepreneurship and investment has not yet matured due to a deep-rooted tendency to believe that it is not good for researchers to make money. We need to develop more human resources in Japan who have a strong mindset of "realizing drug discovery at any cost.
To fill this deep-rooted gap, we are particularly focusing this year on introducing the "Target Product Profile (TPP)," which is used by companies in their research and development. This is a kind of "product specification" or "spec list" for a drug that a pharmaceutical company aims to develop.
The TPP is a document that comprehensively summarizes these requirements and serves as a "compass" for development.
Our aim is to share this TPP widely with researchers and start-ups in academia. Our goal is to facilitate communication. By linking your own research to the concrete product image presented in the TPP, we hope to spark a realistic imagination that your research may lead to drug discovery, thereby triggering dialogue. So far, AMED has also conducted the AMED-FLuX activity, in which experts from pharmaceutical companies serve as advisors to researchers on AMED R&D issues, but in order to make more researchers aware of drug discovery, we need a tool like the TPP that can serve as a common language.
Cooperation with the government and outreach to the future generation is also necessary
Acceleration of drug discovery innovation is limited only by the efforts of individual companies. In particular, investment in large-scale infrastructure, such as biobanks to collect and manage clinical specimens and expensive research facilities that cost well over one billion yen, such as ultra-high magnetic field NMR and large synchrotron radiation facilities, is only possible if the government takes the lead. As an industry, we strongly request the government to actively support Japan's research infrastructure so that it does not fall behind the rest of the world.
At the same time, it is essential to invest in the future. This is to nurture the human resources who will lead the pharmaceutical industry in the future. When I once gave a class at an elementary school, the children listened to me talk about medicine with a twinkle in their eyes. The pharmaceutical company's scientist conveyed in his own words the wonder of the work that saves lives. Through such opportunities, we will create our future by increasing the number of children who feel that they want to work in the pharmaceutical industry.
In the future, we intend to use symposiums and other events to convey in an easy-to-understand manner "why drug discovery is necessary for society" and to broaden the understanding and support of the public as a whole.
The foundation of all our activities is the unity of the committee itself. We are currently engaged in a dialogue within the committee, introducing each company's initiatives and sharing our concerns and insights with each other. First of all, we ourselves must get to know each other deeply and enhance our cohesion as a community. We believe that this is the first step toward creating "co-creation" in the industry as a whole. Through these activities, we aim to become an organization that can powerfully promote drug discovery in Japan as a "single rock" in one year's time.
The structure and activities of the R&D Committee are posted on the website of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Japan. Please visit the site.
[Research and Development Committee Website]
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