日本医疗奇迹有待走出实验室

    世界上第一款可以承受消毒处理的柔性有机晶体管；只要摄下面部画像便可测定脉搏的移动应用；不光能照出人体骨架、还能照出人体内癌变组织的X光机。——这些仅仅是日本目前正在开发的技术中的一小部分。眼下，这个国家已经围绕着国人傲视全球的长寿记录发展出了一个行业。那我们为什么没有在医疗器械或其他医疗相关产品上看到更多的“日本制造”字样呢？

    据某些权威人士表示，原因就出在所谓的“死亡谷综合症”（Death Valley Syndrome）上。或者说，日本的创新，在研发阶段还活力四射、前景可期，却很少能够跨过科研与商业化之间的那道坎儿。就如一位不愿透露姓名的官方人员所形容的，日本“精于技术，但不懂经营”。“日本高水平的基础研究和卓越的技术被过于严苛的管制、纵向一体化的管理捆住了手脚。科研人员和制造商之间的代沟在很多时候都阻碍了杰出的研发成果投入到实践的进程，也就是所谓的‘死亡谷’难题。”

    日本研制的药物融入了若干最高水平的创新成果、专业精神以及随处可见的关怀心，外界目前普遍认为它尚未得到充分开发。结果导致日本在药物及医疗器械领域出现了贸易逆差。日本去年的药物进口总值比出口总值高出了1万亿日元。这正是安倍晋三带领的新任政府班子希望立刻解决的问题。

    今年2月，东京政府宣布计划设立“健康医疗战略室”，职责是将日本某些十分优秀、但日渐式微的科研成果带入市场。这个研究室的宗旨是树立日本在医疗技术及保健服务领域的世界领先地位。这位新任的日本首相对于这个板块的潜在实力充满了信心，将这一政策纳为他所说的“安倍经济学”（Abenomics）政策计划“三支箭”中的一支，意图重振日本疲软的经济。刚刚在上月设立了健康医疗战略室的日本内阁官房长官菅义伟称，安倍政府计划“将医疗板块、药品、医疗设备及器械产业打造成日本的战略性产业，日后成为日本经济复兴的重要支柱。”

    此外，放开了管制的地区，譬如延伸至东京周边多个城市的大片海岸，已被指定为开发特区，专门用来帮助科研创新成果走出实验室，把它们交到私营企业的手中。特区内的实验室和企业机构可以享受税务减免和政府基金支持。官方人士表示，日本其他地区在医疗测试方面施行的严格管制条款在这里也会变得更加宽松。

    截至目前，放开管制的地区已经令一种先进的外科手术模拟器的开发成为了可能。这种模拟器能让缺乏经验的医生接受虚拟环境下的模拟手术训练，而不用拿人体来做“小白鼠”。其他一些企业则联合开发了一组小型的家用超声波套件。目前，研发项目所在地横滨已经不再列入禁止家用超声波设备的管制地区名单，因此超声波在家庭中的临床应用开始变得可能。

    医疗政策室的一位干事中垣英明表示，日本的医疗技术也会大力进行海外宣传。“健康长寿领域存在着一个巨大的市场。我们之前关注的一直是国内市场，但是如今我们也要开始把重心放在海外市场上。”他还补充说，他所在的委员会应该会在今年夏季时拿出具体的相关政策方案。

    The world's first sterilizable, flexible organic transistor; mobile apps that can measure your pulse just by imaging your face; X-ray machines that capture not just bone but cancer tissue, too. These are just a few of the technologies being developed in Japan now, where an industry has grown around the world-beating longevity of the country's people. So why don't we see "Made in Japan" stamped more often on medical instruments or other products in the medical field?

    The answer, according to some pundits, is the so-called Death Valley Syndrome. In other words, Japanese innovation, full of vitality and promise at the R&D level, rarely makes it across the perilous divide between research and commercialization. Japan is "good at technology but poor in business" as one official who declined to be named puts it. "Its high levels of basic research and superior technology are hampered by too-strict regulations, vertically integrated administration. And the gap between researchers and manufacturers is, in many cases, preventing brilliant R&D results from being put into practical use -- the 'Death Valley' problem."

    Practicing some of the highest levels of innovation, professionalism, and care seen anywhere, Japanese medicine so far has been famously under-exploited. As a result, Japan's imports of medicines and medical equipment trounces exports. The country's medicine imports exceeded exports by about 1 trillion yen last year. That is something the newly elected government, led by Shinzo Abe, means to fix immediately.

    In February, Tokyo announced that it would establish an Office for Health Care and Medical Strategy charged with getting some of Japan's exceptional but languishing R&D efforts to market. The office aims to establish Japan as the most advanced in medical technologies and health care services in the world. The P.M., so sure of the potential strength of the sector, has made it one of the "three arrows" of his so-called Abenomics policy plan to revive Japan's flagging economy. The government aims to "develop the medical sector, pharmaceutical products, and medical devices and equipment as strategic industries that will form a key pillar for Japan's economic revitalization," says chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga who launched the health care office last month.

    In addition, deregulated areas, such as a large stretch of coast that straddles Tokyo's neighboring cities, have been designated special zones dedicated to getting innovation out of the labs and into the hands of private companies. Tax breaks and government funds are available to labs and firms in the region. Strict regulations that apply elsewhere in Japan on medical trials are looser here, say officials

    So far the deregulated zone has made it possible to develop an advanced surgery simulator that allows inexperienced doctors to perform simulated surgery training, virtually, without the need for human guinea pigs. Other companies have jointly developed an ultrasound kit miniaturized for home use. Clinical trails at home were made possible because the site, Yokohama, now falls outside Japan's regulated zone that would ban home use.

    Japanese medical technology is also to be aggressively marketed abroad, says Hideaki Nakagaki, a director general of the Office of Health Care Policy. "There is a huge market here for health, longevity. We were looking at the domestic market, but now we will be focusing on overseas sales, too." His committee should have concrete policies on this subject by summer, he adds.