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May 15, 2025
 

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MEDICINE

From around spring 2027, people will be able to pick up over-the-counter drugs from convenience stores without pharmacists in Japan.
JAPAN
May 15, 2025
Over-the-counter drugs to be made available at convenience stores
The move will require consumers to listen to explanations from pharmacists online before purchases.
Capsules of Takeda Pharmaceutical's Prevacid heartburn drug. The company's share price dropped by over 5% on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan to order a cut in U.S. prescription drug costs.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 12, 2025
Asian pharma stocks tumble on Trump signal to cut U.S. drug prices
The U.S. president's social media post put pressure on drug-related stocks on worries their profits will take a hit if they have to reduce prices in the U.S.
Many patients of acute myeloid leukemia die of cancer recurrence even after receiving bone marrow transplants and other treatments. The new therapy could save such patients once it is put into practical application, a group of researchers at Osaka University said.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2025
Osaka University team develops immune cell therapy for acute myeloid leukemia
The new therapy could save AML patients once it is put into practical application, the team said.
A makeshift tent camp near a railway track, following a strong earthquake in Amarapura township, Myanmar, on April 4
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 8, 2025
Health care crisis follows Myanmar quake as junta drives medics underground
After medics took a prominent role in the anti-junta movement that emerged after the coup, the military administration has sought to root out opponents to its rule.
Takaji Wakita, deputy head of the Japan Institute for Health Security, speaks during an interview on April 21 in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2025
Japan bolsters pandemic readiness with new health crisis institute
The Japan Institute for Health Security represents the centerpiece of a strengthened framework designed to apply lessons from the early missteps of the COVID-19 crisis.
A group of researchers including from Kyoto University confirmed that the TIM-3 protein, which exists in a type of immune cell in the brain, increases as the brain ages.
JAPAN / Science & Health
May 8, 2025
Loss of immune-regulating protein seen easing Alzheimer's disease
The findings are expected to help develop a new treatment for the disease.
Pope Francis waves to the crowd from his popemobile as he arrives at the Manger Square before presiding over an open-air mass on May 25, 2014 outside the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank Biblical town of Bethlehem.
WORLD / Society
May 6, 2025
Francis' popemobile converted into clinic for Gazan children
The iconic open-sided vehicle will head to the Gaza Strip if and when Israel opens a humanitarian corridor.
A new U.S. FDA policy requiring full placebo-controlled trials for updated vaccines, pushed by Commissioner Marty Makary (right) and U.S. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (center), is seen as a backdoor effort to sideline COVID-19 boosters and undermine broader vaccine development.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 2, 2025
RFK Jr.’s new vaccine scrutiny is alarming
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who oversees the FDA, intends to set new regulatory standards vaccine manufacturers couldn’t possibly meet.
Hiroshi Matsumoto, a professor at the University of Osaka who has performed autopsies on bodies suspected to have been involved in criminal cases, believes it's of the utmost importance to nurture people who can do such work.
JAPAN
May 2, 2025
Osaka institute nurtures forensic pathologists amid a low autopsy rate
Even though the number of forensic pathologists is on the rise, there were only 173 such people nationwide as of April last year, with nine prefectures having just one each.
Since the 1990s, Parkinson's disease researchers have aimed to use stem cells to replace lost neurons, and they're now finding the right cues to turn them into dopamine-producing cells.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2025
Finally, a source of hope for Parkinson’s disease sufferers
The treatments were originally developed by a team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the other by researchers in Kyoto.
A Doctors Without Borders nurse conducts a malaria test on a young Sudanese refugee suffering from malnutrition, at the group's hospital at the Touloum refugee camp in the Wadi Fira province, Chad, on April 11.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 28, 2025
U.S. aid cuts create 'perfect storm' for malaria in Africa
Experts warn that U.S. funding cuts could lead to an upsurge in the disease across Africa and beyond.
Kyoto University's Center for iPS Cell Research and Application in Kyoto
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 23, 2025
Japan team treats chronic kidney disease with iPS cells in mice
The hope is such an achievement leads to the development of an effective therapy for chronic kidney disease.
A ceremony to open the Japan Institute for Health Security is held in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward on April 4.
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2025
Japan's new health institute gives first acute respiratory infection cases tally
This was the first tally of such cases since ARI was designated as a Category V disease under the infectious diseases control law.
Of the 721,000 childbirths reported in 2024 in Japan, 13.8% involved the use of an epidural, according to the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 22, 2025
Cases of epidural use in labor rise in Japan alongside concerns
More demand for epidurals may place a strain on the nation's anesthesiologists, who are already facing staffing shortages.
A screenshot image from the Whitehouse.gov website that promotes the "lab leak" theory of COVID-19’s origins. The Trump administration has replaced the government’s main portal for information about COVID-19 with a website arguing that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab, throwing its weight behind a theory of the virus’ origins that is so far not backed by direct evidence.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 19, 2025
New White House website blames China for COVID-19 'lab leak'
The website, previously focused on promoting vaccine and testing information, now includes a large image of President Donald Trump and criticizes the Biden-era pandemic policies.
A 3D rendering of multiple induced pluripotent stem cells
JAPAN
Apr 18, 2025
University of Osaka team develops miniature livers from iPS cells
The team expects the small livers can be used to treat patients with end-stage liver disease.
Shares of Eli Lilly & Co. surged on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday after early reports of its experimental weight-loss drug put in a par with market leader Ozempic. The stocks of the drug’s originator, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., also saw an uptick.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 18, 2025
Weight-loss pill orforglipron shines in study, boosting Lilly and Chugai
Eli Lilly’s orforglipron pill, licensed from Chugai Pharmaceutical, could reshape the booming weight-loss drug market, early data shows.
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative condition in which motor function is impaired due to a decrease in nerve cells that produce dopamine, a chemical that works in the brain.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 17, 2025
Japan succeeds in improving Parkinson's symptoms with iPS cells
A trial saw nerve cells made from iPS cells transplanted into patients' brains.
Men painted like skeletons pose in Lagos to warn on the deadly disease prior to the World Malaria Day on April 25, 2015. The sudden dismantling of USAID, the country's main foreign development arm, is unraveling health care systems across Africa.
WORLD / Science & Health
Apr 16, 2025
USAID cuts rip through African health care systems
The sudden dismantling of USAID is unraveling health care systems across Africa that were built from a complicated web of national health ministries, companies and nonprofits.
It is the first transplant surgery in the hospital's clinical trial for treating Type 1 diabetes through the transplantation of pancreatic cell sheets made from iPS cells.
JAPAN
Apr 15, 2025
Kyoto hospital succeeds in iPS sheet transplant to diabetic patient
It is the first clinical application of such sheets in Japan.
Transport ministry issues warning to Haneda Airport operator
The operator of Tokyo's Haneda Airport has been warned by the government over its inappropriate transactions.
Success of Chinese-made fighter jets against India raises alarm in Asia
Chinese J-10 fighter jets from the People's Liberation Army Air Force August 1st Aerobatics Team perform during a media demonstration at the Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand, in November 2015.
One month on, Osaka Expo urged to boost heat and crowd control measures
A gate to the Osaka Expo site is crowded with visitors on Monday.
Xi defiance pays off as Trump meets most China trade demands
Then-Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visits a school in South Gate, California, in February 2012. Experts say Xi won big in his standoff with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Japanese retailers turn to California rice for cheaper alternative
U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass eats California rice at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo on Tuesday along with Mitsuko Tsuchiya, vice president of retailer Aeon.
Sumo title contenders already emerging in early stages of Tokyo meet
Onosato (left) battles Abi on Day 3 of the Summer Basho in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Harmfully hot days for pregnant women in Japan nearly doubled over past five years
New research by a U.S. climate scientists’ group reveals that extreme heat has increased the risks of preterm births and other pregnancy complications in Japan, nearly doubling the number of days that are harmfully hot for pregnant women over the past five years.
Japanese automakers looking at a ¥1 trillion hit from Trump tariffs 
Cars on display at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama on Tuesday. The automaker posted a massive annual net loss and confirmed that it plans to cut thousands of jobs worldwide.
Tokyo Stock Exchange wants stocks to be affordable for the average investor
The Tokyo Stock Exchange building in Nihonbashi. The exchange wants companies to lower the entry cost of investing in their shares.
Consumption tax set to dominate Upper House election debate
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters his office in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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What comes after 100?
By Tomoko Otake

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