I have worked in industry on pharmaceutical research and development for over 30 years.

Medicines can cure diseases, control their progression and suppress their symptoms, and we continue to research and develop new medicines day and night.

However, some diseases can never be cured by conventional medicine. This is when cells and tissues degenerate such as in Parkinson's disease.

There are many drugs available for Parkinson’s disease, but the cells that are the basis of the disease, dopaminergic neurons, degenerate gradually.

And if those cells are few, existing medicines have no effect.

Similarly, if the cells that sense light degenerate, the person’s vision is lost. This also cannot be restored by current medicines.

From the standpoint of drug development, we felt helpless against such diseases, but the situation has changed dramatically with the development of iPS cells.

We can create and transplant cells and tissues that have been lost.

Right now, behind me, we are in the process of manufacturing retinas from iPS cells.

Behind this wall, we are making dopaminergic progenitor cells for Parkinson's disease.

If these tissues and cells are transplanted into patients, it is hoped that the lost function can be restored.

We are doing our best to bring regenerative medicines to as many patients as possible.