Japan to Establish Drug Development Hub to Invite Foreign Startups; Decision Aimed at Reinforcing Japan’s Ability to Make New Drugs

The Yomiuri Shimbun

6:00 JST, August 24, 2024

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has decided to establish a hub complex in which the development of new drugs, from basic research to manufacturing and clinical trials, will take place.

The decision is aimed at reinforcing Japan’s capacity in drug development, and the hub will possibly be constructed in fiscal 2027.

The ministry envisions inviting overseas startups that develop drugs and boosting development of game-changing new drugs. The ministry also aims to end the situation in which new drugs from overseas cannot be used in Japan.

In July, the government positioned the medical drug industry as a key industry in charge of helping the country’s development and hammered out a policy to boost the country’s capacity to develop new drugs.

The projected hub will play a central role in the process. Under the ministry plan, there will be one such hub established in the country, which will be operated by a medical institution. The complex will include a hospital that will conduct clinical trials of new drugs to examine their efficacy and safety, in addition to facilities for drug research and manufacturing of drugs for clinical trials.

The ministry will include the related expenses in the budgetary request for fiscal 2025.

In recent years, startups have been the main developers of new drugs, particularly in the United States. However, such companies often have no branches or affiliates in Japan. Therefore, the ministry intends to lay the groundwork for new drug development in Japan by offering generous support to those companies.

Due to their limited finances, startups find it difficult to prepare a facility by themselves to conduct basic research such as experiments on cells. The ministry plans to set up laboratories and office rooms at the planned hub and lease them out so startups can do research and experiments as they wish.

Furthermore, the ministry will give special support to clinical trials held in Japan for new drugs. Clinical trials at an early stage can cause unexpected side effects for patients because it is the first time that a drug is being administered to humans. The ministry will organize a system to cope with such cases. The manufacturing facility at the hub will be given capacity to make various trial drugs with advanced technology.

Under the plan, startups from Japan and abroad will be invited to gather in the area around the hub complex, where they can network with pharmaceutical companies, universities and venture capital firms.