Nissha Printing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Nissha”) and St Marianna University School of Medicine (StMU; Kawasaki-City, Kanagawa, Japan) have together set up a new course at the university on 1st of November 2015: Department of Translational Medicine Informatics. This course (supervisor: Professor Haruhiko Nakamura of StMU), which is already actively taking part in research activities, aim to analyse molecular pathogenesis information for various diseases including lung cancer, and develop innovative diagnostic tools and cure.

The idea of Precision medicine* was proposed by the U.S. President Obama in his State of Union Speech earlier this year in January 2015. It was intended for a healthcare reform in a broad sense, as the idea takes into account personalized disease prevention measures in addition to personalized medicine and treatment. Originally disease is different for each and every race and individual (patient). Conventional drugs, however, have been developed to “treat as many patients with one”. Several “super blockbuster” products have been launched with annual sales greater than 1 trillion Yen.
Recent drug developments, however, have not been that successful. The success rates of Phase II trials and clinical development have declined below 20% and 10% respectively. Under such circumstances it is no surprise that the need for personalized health care is growing rapidly.
The Department of Translational Medicine Informatics at StMU aims to take a vital part in the development of Precision medicine by providing analytical data and testing. It will target patient pathology specimens and carry out exploratory protein expression analysis using mass spectrometer.

* Precision Medicine: An emerging approach to healthcare that takes into account people’s individual variations in genes, environment, and lifestyle.

The comprehensive analysis of molecular information, such as proteins and genes, for various diseases, including lung cancer, is an essential research in order to provide patients with accurate diagnosis and specific treatment strategies. The use of patient pathology specimen for the search of specific biomarkers is an innovative approach, which is more realistic and practical than conventional approaches.
Our team is comprised of professionals with extensive experience in clinical proteomics from the world-renowned Biosys Technologies,. Inc. I am sure this course will be able to develop techniques and medical products that will benefit clinical practice in the near future.

At Nissha we are actively engaged in clinical research in the medical field. This is in scope of acquiring new core-technology and outlet in the growing market of medicine and healthcare.
In order to make this happen we will utilize our skills to develop sensors and machines based on our precision processing technology, and build practical informatics system.We have no doubt that this joint research course will provide a solution to meet the needs in the drug development process.We have no doubt that this new course will provide us with valuable discovery in the near future.