Therapeutic modalities have been diversifying recently, and the focus of the pharmaceuticals have been changing from low-molecular-weight drugs to biopharmaceuticals including antibody drugs, nucleic acid drugs, cellular drugs, gene therapy. In addition to pharmaceuticals, medical devices and even medical solution utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) also attract attention, and a framework for efficient and rapid research and development of diverse modalities becomes increasingly important.
The cutting-edge science and technology have been applied to medical care and implemented in society more rapidly, and the collaboration through specialization and division of labor in technology and the fusion of different technology fields has become essential. The therapeutic targets has shifted from blockbusters for a large number of patients to individualized therapies. The role of academia as a leader of innovation is also getting more important, and the role of academia is expanding to include basic research on biopharmaceuticals, exploratory a clinical study in investigator-initiated clinical trials, accumulation of medical big data, and creation of biotech companies. In the future, in addition to chemistry and biology, engineering and information science and technology, as well as their interdisciplinary combination, will be important.
It becomes increasingly unrealistic for even major pharmaceutical companies to provide all of their own R&D resources for the development of seeds related to many therapeutic modalities and for research and development using science and technology in a variety of fields. It is considered important to accelerate the commercialization by changing from traditional vertical development by a single company to collaboration among universities, biotech companies, major pharmaceutical companies, and other different fields and industries, each playing their own role at different stages of development (open innovation-based R&D ecosystem), in order to diversify risks, increase development efficiency, and shorten development time and costs.
