Shake It Off? Japan Mulls Routes Out Of Bioventure Doldrums

Nurturing, Translational Research Hopes Aired At BioJapan

16 Oct 2019

The long-recurring theme of how effectively to foster Japan’s bioventure sector again emerged as a key thread at recent major industry meeting, while the broader topic of effective partnering occupied the minds of industry and academia alike.

Yokohama Meeting Hears Challenges, Responses • Source: Shutterstock

Japan’s bioventure sector seems to have been in an “emerging” state for decades. While there are now hundreds of home-grown companies in the therapeutics space, only a handful have reached the commercial stage and any substantial size, while post-IPO valuations have in many cases struggled.

The major challenges are well-documented - lack of venture capital funding, aversion to investment and development risk and failure, long...