The Gate Opening Summit for Innovative Drug Discovery was held in Japan on July 30, 2024. At this time, the Strategic Goal and Action Plan for Improving Drug Discovery Capabilities to Support Early Availability of Innovative Drug were announced based on the Interim Report of the “Council of the Concept for Early Prevalence of the Novel Drugs to Patients by Improving Drug Discovery Capabilities ” (Council).
What is the Gate Opening Summit for Innovative Drug Discovery?
This is a new (first) conference held following the Interim Report of the Council published on May 22, 2024.
The Interim Report states the following on Page 11:
As stated here, the summit was held to demonstrate both domestically and internationally the Japanese government’s commitment to recognizing the pharmaceutical and medical industries as core industries and to implement strong policies, while also seeking a commitment from companies and venture capitalists to operate in Japan.
According to this background, the summit was held at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence and attended by Prime Minister Kishida. Prime Minister Kishida’s remarks are published in the Prime Minister’s One Day ” Gate Opening Summit for Innovative Drug Discovery.”
Three points were highlighted from his remarks: the development of a clinical trial environment, including the establishment of a system for conducting first-in-human (FIH) trials; support for domestic seeds involving foreign pharmaceutical companies and venture capitalists; and the creation of a system that will enable continuous investment and innovation in drug discovery in Japan.
The content of Prime Minister Kishida’s remarks itself follows the Interim Report of the Council and the Basic Policy for Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform 2024, so there were no additional surprises. However, it was more clear that the government budget will be secured for the contents of the Interim Report and the Basic Policy for Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform 2024.
In addition, starting with this summit, it is expected that they will move in the direction of establishing a public-private council and implementing various measures (including requests for participation of the council from companies and venture capitalists).
The contents of the Interim Report of the Council are summarized here.
Strategic Goal and Action Plan for Improving Drug Discovery Capabilities to Support Early Availability of Innovative Drug
In conjunction with the Gate Opening Summit for Innovative Drug Discovery, policy goals and timetables for advancing the contents of the Interim Report have been published (here).
These goals and timetables, along with the commitments of the Japanese government, including Prime Minister Kishida are the deliverables that the Cabinet Secretariat wanted to put forward.
No additional measures have been added since the Interim Report, but output indicators (KPIs) have been provided along with a timeline of measures.
What is noteworthy about the action plan is that “budget requests and budget preparation” are explicitly stated for each measure. It is rare to see such a statement at the action plan level, and it does seem to show a commitment of Japanese government.
Although it is for reference, an outline of each measure is provided. This outline gives a glimpse into what the Japanese government is trying to do (what it is trying to request in the FY2025 budget). Based on the contents of this outline, negotiations with the Ministry of Finance on the contents of the budget request are likely to proceed until the end of August.
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