Life Science & Medical Technology

Vegetables, fish and other foods to which genome editing technology — which can modify genetic information with a high degree of precision — has been applied will be exempted from legal regulations if genes were not integrated into the food, a research panel of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry stated in a draft compiled on Wednesday.

Japanese scientist Tasuku Honjo, who jointly won this year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his research on the immune system that contributed to cancer treatments, said Thursday that he believes most cancers will become treatable with immune therapy by 2050.

Genetic editing in fertilized human eggs can be conducted for basic research purposes but births will be forbidden, the Japanese government said in draft guidelines issued Tuesday, hoping to avoid a repeat of last month's outcry after a Chinese scientist claimed to have produced genetically altered children.

Japanese biotech startup Spiber has raised 5 billion yen ($44.1 million) to build a facility in Thailand for mass-producing synthetic spider silk protein.

A Keio University research team will begin clinical tests for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), administering ALS patients an existing drug used for another disease, which is confirmed to be effective in experiments with induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.

Officials from the city of Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture, said Wednesday that a case of classical swine fever has been discovered at a public research institute — the third such case of the virus being reported this year and just over a decade since it was official declared eradicated in Japan.

Japanese scientists and doctors on Friday condemned the birth of gene-edited twin babies, claimed by a Chinese researcher last week.

A group of researchers based in Japan and the United States believe that administering allergy shots to women during pregnancy could prevent their unborn children from developing allergies after birth and throughout their lives.

A national institute in Tokyo plans to use and research live strains of the Ebola virus and other infectious diseases imported from overseas, a move that would see the institute utilize its biosafety level 4 facility (see below) for the first time.

Novartis has applied with Japanese authorities to have a gene therapy drug approved, a move that could give Japan at least two such drugs in the coming year, Nikkei has learned.