Sekisui Medical Awarded "Minister Prize of Economic,Trade and Industry" at the 11th Distinguished Service Award of the President of Science Council of Japan
September 2, 2013
Sekisui Medical Co., Ltd.
Sekisui Medical Co., Ltd (Tokyo, Japan), RIKEN (Saitama, Japan), and Setsunan University (Osaka, Japan) have proceeded in "Innovative Strategies for Drug Development and Commercialization using Microdosing Clinical Studies" under NEDO Project and have received the Minister Prize of Economic, Trade and Industry at the 11th Distinguished Service Award of the President of Science Council of Japan. The award ceremony was held at Tokyo Big Sight (Tokyo, Japan) on August 29, 2013.
Prize and Award Title
- Prize
- "Minister Prize of Economic, Trade and Industry"
11th Distinguished Service Award of the President of Science Council of Japan
- Title
- Innovative Strategies for Drug Development and Commercialization using Microdosing Clinical Studies
Awardees
Yuichi Sugiyama, Ph.D.
Invited Senior Scientist
RIKEN
Professor Emeritus,
The University of Tokyo
Mutsumi Fukuda
President & CEO
Sekisui Medical Co., Ltd.
Shinji Yamashita, Ph.D.
Professor of Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Setsunan University
Overview
Yuichi Sugiyama, Ph.D., Invited Senior Scientist, RIKEN, and Professor Shinji Yamashita, Ph.D., Setsunan University, developed the world's first base technology for drug discovery by the use of "micro-dosing (MD) clinical trials". An MD clinical trial is a study aimed to predict a drug disposition from minimal dose administration to humans. Sekisui Medical collaborated with both organizations, utilized this technology, and succeeded in the commercialization of the MD clinical trials according to the regulations of drug development (press release on February 28, 2013). By selecting new drug candidates efficiently, it is expected that the MD clinical trials will dramatically reduce the cost and time required for drug development.
About NEDO Project
In June 2008, the "Guidance for conducting microdose clinical trials" was implemented. Merging the analytical method regarding the prediction of the drug disposition, 14C-labeled compounds, and the use of advanced analytical techniques enabled us to develop drugs with a high rate of success, and advance in epoch-making technological development for drug design. The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) research project was promoted to achieve the practical use of this development method. Sekisui Medical participated in this NEDO research project from the beginning and was successful in the succeeded commercialization of MD clinical studies.