Academia’s contribution to drug discovery: current status and perspectives in Japan

The international competitiveness of Japan in drug discovery is low. Among the companies responsible for discovering new drugs approved by US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 2017 to 2021, United States Europe, bio-ventures established 1990s or later accounted approximately half one-third total. In contrast, all originated Japanese were discovered long-established pharmaceutical companies. As seen that developed multiple during same period research development COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, an ecosystem exists Europe support creation innovative through establishment ventures researchers based on promising technologies academia, attracting substantial investments investors large corporations. Conversely, measures promote university have not been effective Japan, academic discovery, implemented as alternative measure, has yielded satisfactory results. From analyzing a domestic company several FDA-approved drugs, it was found promoting alignment between modality technology novel targets biological can be strategy advancing Japan. Based these findings, this paper discusses perspectives enhancing