Protecting a nation from drug disasters
Medical oncologist Professor Masanori Fukushima aims to translate Japan's highly regarded life sciences research into clinical practice for the benefit of practitioners and ultimately patients.
In 2000 Professor Masanori Fukushima was invited to become a professor at Kyoto University and built the first pharmacoepidemiology department in Japan. Now, as Head of the Translational Research Infomatics Center in Kobe, he supervises an alliance of seven universities looking at all areas of medical treatment and devices such as prosthetic limbs.
Prof. Fukushima's mission is to bring Japan's basic medical scientific knowledge up to levels in the West. He attributes Japan's drug disasters, such as the recent 700 deaths resulting from an HIV drug with no evidence of effectiveness, to a weak position on science, with issues to address in drug discovery as well as in the regulatory process of approval and dispensing.
Hear our Intelligent Information for Life interview with Prof. Masanori Fukushima.
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