Corporate thoughts
Throughout this series, we have discussed a new type of medical treatment that uses living cells, under the keyword of regenerative medicine. We also talked about the potential for achieving this new type of medical treatment through a method called tissue engineering. In this final chapter, I would like to tell you our thoughts on this treatment as a corporation that is involved in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.
In order to realize a new type of medical treatment such as regenerative medicine, it is necessary to use methods that are safe and effective. Even a highly effective method will have to be abandoned if it is accompanied by great risk. By the same token, there is value in proceeding with a method if the benefits greatly outweigh the potential risks. In order for us to deliver a new treatment, it is at least necessary to ascertain that it is safe and effective. As advanced types of medical treatment increase, the government will take an increasingly important role in determining this.
Japan has a very substantial health insurance system that makes it possible for us to get examined by any doctor in any hospital, however celebrated. Moreover, the fees we pay when being examined are uniformly set, and we only are responsible for about 30 percent of the cost of treatment; the government pays the rest. Of course, it costs money to be enrolled in health insurance, but compared to other countries, the Japanese system has the advantages of being low cost and enabling free choice of medical institutions.
On the other hand, the financial resources that the national government can apply to medical costs are limited, and the constraints are becoming tighter by the year. The aging of society is one of the reasons for this. The increasing sophistication of medical technology is also causing expenses to soar. As the symbolic fact of hospital business failure attests, we cannot rule out the possibility that the health insurance system that has thus far been laudable could potentially collapse. If we become unable to reliably receive the kind of medical treatment we have taken for granted up to now because the expenses can no longer be borne, will expensive advanced types of medical treatment be still more expendable? Should we stop offering these new advanced types of treatment, or should they be available only to the rich - something beyond the grasp of ordinary people?
Japan is known for having a very high level of industrial technology. Japanese technology in automobiles and electrical appliances is highly rated and trusted by people in other countries as well. But the situation is a little different when it comes to medical devices. Unfortunately, many of the medical devices and materials that we use in Japan are imported. We are using items purchased from the United States or Europe. This is an area where we have not been able to make the most of Japan's high level of industrial technology. The fact is that this reliance on imports for many of the machines, materials, and medicines used in medical care is inevitably driving up medical costs.
(Actually, a number of products using living cells are already commercially available in the United State and Europe, but) artificial organs and tissue using cells from our bodies are a field of medicine that is in its infancy. As we have discussed, a production system of a kind never seen before is necessary in order to produce artificial organs and tissue that incorporate living cells. The patient's cells must be uniformly increased, and product quality must be ensured. As was stated at the beginning of this chapter, the products must be guaranteed safe and effective. Only after reliable quality has been established and the products have been evaluated by government reviewers do they officially become commercial products.
With high corporate aspirations and an insistence on the kind of craftsmanship that is part of the national character of Japan, we would like to shepherd the development and application of these wonderful new types of cell-based medical treatments to a high level of completion. We would be truly happy if they would then be utilized as technologies for protecting the health of everyone. We look forward to the day when Japan-made cell-based products are recognized as the most reliable in the world and build a solid position among our country's industries.
