Re-Engineering Japanese R&D - Again

The history of R&D in Japan can be divided into two eras, each of about 20 years. The first began in the mid-1950s after recovery from World War II, and the emergence of the golden age of drug discovery abroad. it ended in the early 1970s with the oil shock, market liberalization and product patent laws.

A second era is ending, as the effects of regulatory change and economic conditions accelerate structural reform of the industry. health care reforms and international harmonization are driving a paradigm shift in the R&D mission, and the next 20 years will be very different. Pragmatic Japanese researchers re-engineered their mission twice in the past, and must do so again to assure a viable competitive presence. This will require a fundamental management and mentality shift either never attempted before or never implemented successfully.

1955-77: Anything Old Era Until 10 years after World War II, drug discovery research did not exist in japan. Drug firms were wholesalers of traditional medicines, fermentation technology was the sole domain of beer and sake brewers, and early penicillin-producing cultures came to japan in German U-boats. The grandfathers and fathers of today's chief executives brought Japan into the modern world of R&D.