[사설] Japan has the largest stem cell line in the world, banned by Korea. Opinion | News

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare approved the world's first clinical trial of Parkinson's disease using induced pluripotent stem cells (IPS). IPS cells are stem cells that inject specific genes into skin cells and allow them to grow into various cells and organs. Successful clinical trials are expected to make a breakthrough in the treatment of Parkinson's disease and other intractable diseases.

Japan is a country of post-emergence stem cells, and the government daringly supports and deregulates the world. In order to develop the stem cell sector in a new industry, Japan established the "Regenerative Medicine Law" in 2014 after receiving an idea of ​​Korea's "Rapid Drug Permit System" introduced in 2011. According to this law, if the safety of stem cells is confirmed only at the initial stage of the clinical trial, a stem cell treatment drug is presented to patients with incurable diseases. It will reduce the burden of hundreds of billions of won in the last phase of clinical trials (phase 3), and accelerate the release of therapeutic drugs by three years.

In 2015, the Japanese government launched the control tower, which covers everything from basic research in life sciences to industrialization, including regenerative medicine. In the last 10 years, he has supported more than 1 trillion won of stem cell research funds. That's why the success of corneal transplantation using iPS cells in Japan and the clinical endorsement of the world's first heart disease treatment are spreading.

In Korea, it has been stricter since "the incident of Hwang Woo-suk", when the country, formerly called "stem cell superpower", asked whether stem cell treatments should be included in quick licenses. Due to ethical laws, the development and treatment of stem cell therapies is severely limited. Even if a drug is developed, its safety and effectiveness must be fully verified before it can be approved.

Domestic patients suffering from degenerative arthritis find it difficult to find a Japanese stem cell hospital for tens of millions of won. Japan is far from deregulation and it is frustrating that Korea has not been able to escape the bioethics debate for years.

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