OKUYAMA Ryo    Department   Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University  College of International Management    Position   Professor
Date	2023/05/01
Country of Awarding	Japan
Authority to Grant	The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan
Award Name	Highlighted paper selected by Editor-in-Chief
Title	Strengthening the Competitiveness of Japan’s Pharmaceutical Industry: Analysis of Country Differences in the Origin of New Drugs and Japan’s Highly Productive Firm
Award Winner(s)	Ryo Okuyama
Award Type	Award by Academic Journal
Details	The author found that bio-ventures established in the 1990s and 2000s played a crucial role in creating new drugs approved by the FDA from 2017 to 2022 in regions outside of Japan. In contrast, in Japan, all approved drugs were created by old incumbent pharmaceutical companies, highlighting the urgent need to foster drug discovery start-ups in Japan. A case study of the Japanese company that created the largest number of FDA-approved drugs suggests that focused investment in modality technology development, strengthening collaboration with academia in biology, and the reutilizing small-molecule drug discovery capabilities are essential for improving drug discovery productivity.