Abe Plans Command Center For Medical Research

TOKYO (Nikkei)--Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to create a national medical research headquarters that parlays scientific findings into the development of drugs and medical equipment.

"The lack of a linkage between research and clinical application has been a bottleneck in putting innovative treatments into practical use," said Abe, speaking at a meeting of an industrial competitiveness panel Friday. "We need an organization that single-handedly oversees budget distributions across different agencies," he said.

Abe instructed the ministries of health, economy and education to draw up specific plans for setting up what he envisions as the Japanese version of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. The aim is to have the organization up and running as early as fiscal 2014.

As part of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, NIH oversees 27 institutes conducting research on cancer, the human genome and other areas. It is also charged with allocating funds into the fields of medicine and life sciences.

While many countries have comparable organizations, Japan has yet to set one up due to the conflicting interests of government bodies, universities and industry.

A lack of coordination is evident in research on regenerative medicine using induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells, for example. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology handles basic research, while the Ministry of Health and Labor is in charge of clinical applications. And the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry promotes the growth of related industries.

With different ministries often earmarking funds for the same purposes, they have not been able to form a unified front to advance research and spur innovation in the field.

(The Nikkei, March 30 morning edition)

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