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August 13, 2025
 

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MEDICINE

Chugai Pharmaceutical shares sank as much as 20% in Tokyo on Friday after a study revealed that an obesity drug it licensed to Eli Lilly & Co. resulted in lower weight loss and higher rates of nausea and vomiting than anticipated.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 8, 2025
Chugai stock drops the most since 1977 on disappointing obesity drug data
A study showed the drug, which it has licensed to Eli Lilly & Co., resulted in lower weight loss and higher rates of nausea and vomiting than anticipated.
Operations of a medical helicopter in Tokyo will be suspended for seven days this month due to a staff shortage.
JAPAN
Aug 8, 2025
Tokyo temporarily halts medical helicopter operations due to staff shortage
The suspension began on Thursday and will continue through Sunday. The helicopter will also be out of service between Aug. 24 and Aug. 26.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine development dismantles an important public health tool and could weaken America’s ability to respond to future pandemics.
COMMENTARY
Aug 8, 2025
RFK Jr.’s mRNA decision may be his worst yet
U.S. Health Secretary RFK Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine development dismantles a public health tool and could weaken the ability to respond to future pandemics.
The price of Alzheimer's drug Lecanemab, codeveloped by Japanese drugmaker Eisai and U.S. industry peer Biogen, will be lowered to ¥97,277 for a 500-milligram bottle.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 7, 2025
Japan approves price cut for Alzheimer's drug Lecanemab
The drug's price will be lowered to ¥97,277 for a 500-milligram bottle starting on Nov. 1.
Sumitomo Pharma applied to Japanese regulators for manufacturing and marketing authorization aimed at treating patients with advanced Parkinson's disease.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 5, 2025
Drugmaker in Japan seeks approval for stem cell treatment for Parkinson's
A trial led by Kyoto University researchers indicated treatment using induced Pluripotent Stem cells was safe and successful in improving symptoms of the disease.
The newly developed drug, Adriana, is a groundbreaking painkiller, which works on a completely different mechanism to morphine and other existing synthetic opioids.
JAPAN
Aug 5, 2025
Kyoto University team develops pain reliever comparable to morphine
Morphine, often administered to cancer patients, can cause serious adverse effects such as breathing issues and addiction.
The team of researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo has found that cells often labeled "villains" for their roles in atopic dermatitis and asthma can alleviate lung inflammation.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 1, 2025
Immune cells that worsen asthma can ease lung inflammation, Japan study shows
The surprise findings, published in the European Respiratory Journal, may pave the way for new treatments.
A regenerative medicine startup, Kyoto-based iHeart Japan, said Monday that it has conducted a clinical trial to transplant a treatment sheet containing cardiac muscle cells derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells into a patient with a heart muscle disease.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 29, 2025
Japan startup transplants iPS cells for heart treatment in clinical trial
The layered sheet containing three types of cells and gelatin particles were placed on the surface of the heart, and are expected to improve the heart's contractions.
A screenshot of a health ministry website shows an application form to submit documents for approval of a regenerative medicine program.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 28, 2025
Health bureaus' inconsistencies on regenerative medicine plans spark outcry
In one case, a regional health and welfare bureau immediately approved a regenerative medicine program but a different bureau rejected the same treatment plan.
By 2040, demand for cancer surgeries in Japan is projected to decrease by 5% by 2040, while that for radiotherapy is projected to increase by 24%.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 25, 2025
Health ministry panel calls for consolidating cancer care provision
A health ministry panel has called for consolidating surgeries and radiotherapies for cancer treatment, citing such reasons as the dwindling number of surgeons in Japan.
Pancreatic cancer, the third-leading cause of cancer death in Japan, has the lowest five-year survival rate of any cancer at just 8.5%.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 25, 2025
Kyoto University researchers find mechanism behind malignant pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer death in Japan.
Senate Republicans must undo their reckless confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary, whose anti-vaccine crusade is fueling a deadly measles outbreak and putting more Americans at risk.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2025
RFK Jr. is making America sick again. Republicans need a cure.
Kennedy, who has no training in medicine or health, has long been the nation’s foremost peddler of junk science and the crackpot conspiracy theories that flow from it.
A Nigerian health official administers an mpox vaccination at Federal Medical Center in Abuja, Nigeria, on Nov. 18.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 24, 2025
800,000 U.S. taxpayer-funded vaccine doses may expire, lawmakers say
A letter said 220,000 doses could be viable if the State Department begins shipping them immediately.
One out of every 5,000 births is affected by mitochondrial diseases, which cannot be treated, and include symptoms such as impaired vision, diabetes and muscle wasting.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jul 17, 2025
World-first IVF trial reduces risk of babies inheriting diseases
The results raise hopes that women with mutations in their mitochondrial DNA could one day have children without passing debilitating or deadly diseases on to the children.
Researchers at the University of Osaka Hospital last year became the first in Japan to conduct surgeries of reducing the number of fetuses in multiple pregnancy as part of clinical research.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 16, 2025
Researchers in Japan conduct multifetal pregnancy reduction surgeries
It is the first time that the procedure has been carried out as clinical research in Japan.
Researchers at the National Cancer Center Japan say a new type of gut bacteria named YB328 could help unlock the potential of cancer immunotherapy.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 15, 2025
Japan researchers identify gut bacteria strain that boosts anticancer drugs
The discovery may help raise the success rate of a type of cancer treatment that currently works for only 20% of patients who receive it.
One of the early exemplars of Chinese innovation is a cell therapy that has shown promise to potentially cure a deadly blood cancer.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 14, 2025
China biotech’s stunning advance is changing the world’s drug pipeline
The number of novel drugs in China entering into development ballooned to over 1,250 last year, far surpassing the European Union.
Foreign tourists at Tsukiji Outer Market in Tokyo. More than 1 million international visitors have a medical issue in Japan every year.
BUSINESS / Tech
Jul 13, 2025
Tourists in Japan have telemedicine options before calling 119
More than 1 million foreign visitors a year experience a medical event during their stay.
Osaka University researchers say they have developed a method to improve embryo implantation rates.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jul 11, 2025
Mouse embryo implantation reproduced in lab equipment
The team also discovered protein interactions that help drive embryo implantation.
Wounded Palestinians lie on beds at Al Shifa Hospital, which Gaza's health ministry says is at risk of shutting down due to the Israeli blockade of fuel, in Gaza City on Wednesday.
WORLD
Jul 11, 2025
Gaza doctors cram babies into incubators as fuel shortage threatens hospitals
Medics in the Gaza Strip say the dwindling fuel supplies threaten to plunge them into darkness and paralyze hospitals and clinics there.
Millions told to evacuate as heavy rain sparks flooding and landslides in Kyushu
Heavy rain falls in the city of Kumamoto on Monday morning.
Osaka Expo ticket sales exceed break-even point
Visitors to the Osaka Expo line up for pavilions on Friday.
Chinese vessels collide while pursuing Philippine boat in South China Sea
This handout video grab released and taken on August 11, 2025 by the Philippine Coast Guard shows an incident between a Chinese Navy vessel (left) and a Chinese Coast Guard ship as seen from a Philippine fisheries boat near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea.
Britain’s Prince of Wales aircraft carrier makes Japan debut
HMS Prince of Wales arrives into the Port of Darwin, Australia, in July during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025.
Japan's Nikkei 225 hits record high on tariff and rate optimism
Stocks in Tokyo rallied on Tuesday despite months of uncertainty and general economic concerns.
Osaka Expo highlights the challenge of holding events in Japan's scorching summer
People huddle near a large fan blowing icy-cold mist at the Osaka Expo on July 12. Amid Japan's relentless summer heat, organizes have put myriad measures in place in order to keep guests safe.
At Himawari Shokudo 2, Italian food with a Japanese soul
At Himawari Shokudo 2, chef Hozumi Tanaka serves Italian-inspired fare with a focus on Toyama produce, such as this appetizer of lightly blanched "hotaru ika" (firefly squid) served atop mixed wild plants and a crepe prepared from "yamato-imo" yam.
Cheer with caution: Expert advises sports fans have game plan for extreme heat
A Cardinals fan fans himself during the seventh inning of a game against the Pirates in St. Louis, Missouri, in June 2022.
Australia's warship selection signals Japanese defense industry's arrival
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami-class frigate. Australia's selection of an upgraded version of the Mogami-class warship for its next frigate class could prove to be a watershed moment for Japan’s defense industry.
Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.

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