Shanghai, October 14, 2015

With the importance of the continuously dynamic medical and pharmaceutical industry, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Pharmacy welcomed veteran medicinal chemist Dr. Toyokazu Kishi to guest lecture about market trends, as well as the future of the medicinal market. Dr. Lei Fu invited Dr. Kishi due to his extensive experience within the industry, working for Takeda Pharmaceuticals before retiring and becoming a guest lecturer at Shenyang Pharmaceutical University as well as Harbin Medical School. Graduate students were greatly influenced and informed by Dr. Kishi’s knowledge and passion for the medical and pharmaceutical industry shown by his two lectures: “World Pharmaceutical Enterprise,” and “Diabetes and Future Trends of The Medicinal Market.”

“World Pharmaceutical Enterprise” by Dr. Kishi focused mainly on the growth and increase of the pharmaceutical markets worldwide as well as company trends within the Research and Development (R&D) sector. The leading pharmaceutical companies are focusing on block buster (BB) products, products which generate over $1 billion USD in revenue per year. From BB products, companies utilize profits for funding R&D ventures. Current new drug approvals outside of China are most often cardiovascular disease therapies, cancer therapies, as well as metabolic and anti-infectious agents. With Billions of dollars spent from drug discovery and development to clinical trials for approval, the pharmaceutical industry is one of the largest areas of expenditure and has a good future outlook due to larger companies investing nearly 20% of their budgets towards R&D ventures.

“Diabetes and Future Trends of The Medicinal Market” focused on diabetes as one of fastest growing concerns in many of the countries across the world, causing metabolic diseases with symptoms including high blood pressure. Without treatment decreased insulin secretion over time causes patients to experience nephropathy, retinopathy or neuropathy. Dr. Kishi also mentioned that treatment for the disease is difficult due to the need to inject insulin multiple times in a single day. Complications can arise from the injection of insulin on a regular basis leading to hypoglycemia, the deficiency of glucose in the blood. To meet the global need for diabetes treatments, pharmaceutical companies are focusing on less invasive methods for the delivery of these medicines.Oral medicines with varied affects ranging from increased insulin secretion, to metabolic hormones to decrease the blood glucose level were also discussed. Several drugs based on influencing metabolic hormones are in clinical trials and are in the pipeline to be available worldwide. Dr. Kishi also emphasized on the need of combinatorial drug therapy for the cure of diabetes.

With China standing 3^rd in the present day Pharmaceutical market, Dr. Kishi believes that soon in the coming years, China will be the 2^nd biggest pharmaceutical producer. He urged Chinese students to strive for the creation of novel drugs, focusing on high quality and cheaper prices for the efficient availability and use for the people of the world.

Dr. Kishi has experience of more than 40 years in the field of medicinal chemistry and his inputs were had a great impact on the students. After the guest lecture, he interacted with the students; students enjoyed a lunch with the renowned chemist where he shared his experiences during his time at the pharmaceutical company.

Reported by Uday Kumar, Class 2015 Ph.D. Candidate

Edited by Jennifer Batara, Class 2015 Ph.D. Candidate