Japan's iPS cell research has fallen behind China and the United States
According to a report by Yomiuri Shimbun on May 30: In the decade ending in 2024, Japan ranked third in the number of exclusive academic papers on iPS cells—cells capable of transforming various organs and tissues—behind only the United States and China. A Parkinson’s disease treatment drug developed from iPS cells in Japan is expected to be commercially launched for the first time this autumn, leading global research efforts.
However, in recent years, the gap between Japan and the United States and China has widened, indicating that Japan's research capabilities have stagnated. The number of country-specific papers in specific fields reflects each nation's research strength. This data was obtained by Yomiuri Shimbun from Elsevier, a major academic publishing company headquartered in the Netherlands. Elsevier operates a database of over 100 million peer-reviewed academic papers and analyzed paper data from the top 15 countries based on expert interviews.
Looking back at the past decade since iPS cell research officially began globally in 2015, the total number of related academic papers worldwide has reached 32,606. By country, the United States leads with 12,203 papers, followed by China (5,162) and Japan (3,876).
Comparing the number of papers published in 2015 versus 2024, Japan’s research capacity has increased by approximately 1.5 times since 2015, while the United States has doubled, and China has tripled—indicating that the pace of advancement in research capability has outstripped Japan’s.
In terms of the number of papers published in 2024, Japan has been surpassed by Germany, and its gap with the United Kingdom has narrowed.
Regarding the number of papers rated as world-class quality, Japan published 56 such papers—only one-eighth of the United States’ output and less than half of China’s—ranking fifth, behind only the United Kingdom and Germany. Among all Japanese papers, the proportion classified as top-tier stands at 1.5%, the lowest among the 15 countries surveyed.
iPS cells were first successfully created from mouse cells by Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in 2006, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012. Since fiscal year 2013, the Japanese government has focused on providing ten-year priority support aimed at industrializing regenerative medicine using iPS cells.
This March, two regenerative medicine products derived from iPS cells were approved globally for production and sales—the first of their kind. Professor Shintaro Senichi, an expert in pharmaceutical development at Tokyo Science University, said: “In terms of paper quantity, Japan’s research remains among the world’s leading ranks. Thanks to government support, achievements in regenerative medicine and industrial applications now rival those of the United States. However, when it comes to research quality, it must be acknowledged that Japan lags behind globally. Japan’s long-term research capability and technological innovation in iPS cell science may be declining.”
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1866608636310538/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.