please click the box below to let us know you're not a robot Get the most important global markets news at your fingertips with a Bloomberg.com subscription Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article Honjo received numerous awards and honours during his career, including the Kyoto Prize (2016) and the Keio Medical Science Prize (2016). He was a foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (2001) and a member of the German National Academy of Sciences (2003) and the Japan Academy (2005) This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Takao Yoshida took part in a joint research project with a laboratory of Dr a Distinguished Professor at Kyoto University he worked on the research of Opdivo as research project leader with Medarex Inc (It was later acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb Company) and contributed to the birth of Opdivo as the Senior Director of the Drug Discovery Biologics at ONO he is now focusing on drug discovery research for biopharmaceuticals which have attracted much attention in recent years This year marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of Opdivo a groundbreaking cancer immunotherapy drug released in 2014 that has become a mainstream solution for fighting cancer through the power of immunity.Mr who spearheaded the project as a researcher emphasizes that “Each team member was dedicated to the task of delivering the drug to patients and working together as a cohesive unit helped us achieve the breakthrough.” It is said that one in two Japanese people will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives the three main treatment options were surgery in which the body's natural immune system is strengthened to fight cancer.Opdivo falls into this category of a cancer immunotherapy treatment “The road leading up to the launch of Opdivo was one full of repeated hardships and challenges.But our team had been working with a single-minded determination to combat cancer that afflicts so many patients and their families.” says Mr.Yoshida as he reflects back on the project.Soon after joining Ono Pharmaceutical Mr.Yoshida participated in a joint research project with the laboratory of Tasuku Honjo a distinguished professor at Kyoto University who was working on a specific protein that would play a key role in Opdivo’s research and Mr.Yoshida later became the Opdivo research project leader It was in 2002 that Dr.Honjo's laboratory identified this unique protein as the key to cancer immunity.“We might be able to attack cancer with the power of the human body’s immune system.“Based on this hypothesis Mr.Yoshida and his team from ONO set out to work on creating a new drug to battle cancer ONO did not have the technology nor the facilities to produce such a new drug.The team then attempted to reach out to various pharmaceutical companies “You should stop working on that kind of project as soon as possible.”No company was willing to work with them After visiting probably more than a dozen companies venture company that had knowledge of cancer immunology.The company began conducting joint research with Ono Pharmaceutical in 2005.This is how an Opdivo-based drug candidate was first generated as the Company ran into difficulty starting clinical trials to confirm the efficacy and safety of drug candidates.Cancer immunotherapy was known at the time as a form of treatment that lacked supporting evidence and ONO had never even really worked on an anticancer drug before Some physicians at the medical institutions that ONO requested cooperation for the clinical trial were even as critical to say “It's upsetting that people (like you) believe that such a drug can reduce the size of cancer.” Yukiya Oyama (currently the Senior Director Oncology Clinical Exploratory Research) and his team persistently appealed to physicians about the drug candidate’s mechanism thereby paving the way for the start of the clinical trial patients with various forms of cancer were asked to participate in the clinical trial to see how well the drug candidate worked and to examine which cancer to develop the drug for.Based on the data they gathered the team decided to set their focus on rare cancers which are rare in Japan but are extremely malignant and only had a limited number of drugs for treatment.Mr and after further clinical trials were held Opdivo was officially released in September 2014 “As long as there are patients who are suffering from diseases we will do our best to deliver new drugs to those in need All the members involved in the project were full of emotions when Opdivo was released “The fact that none of us had ever officially worked on a cancer drug before is what allowed us to think outside the box without any preconceived notions of what a cancer drug ‘should’ be and successfully develop Opdivo,” said Mr Yoshida.More than 20 years had passed since 1992 when the Honjo Laboratory at Kyoto University discovered the unique protein that would become key to Opdivo’s research Honjo won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of cancer immunotherapy A variety of immune checkpoint inhibitors are now available on the market from other pharmaceutical companies providing patients with more options for cancer treatment The success rate of a new drug hitting the market is said to be about 1 in 23,000* what exactly is the driving force behind the development of new drugs Takao has been involved in a wide variety of studies.When he hits a road block in his research he makes a point to reassess the power that new drugs have.New drugs have the power to help people eat better and spend more time with their family with a smile on their face.There are many new drugs out there.The more I hear about how new drugs are helping to enrich the daily lives of patients and their families around the world the more I become convinced abouthow we can provide hope and courage to patients as long as we keep taking on new challenges without giving up Defy conventional wisdom and break the mold.It is hard to oppose what everyone believes to be true ONO will continue to step up to the challenge.Our aim is to deliver innovative drugs to patients and bring smiles to their faces Delivering New Drugs to as Many Patients as Possible -Taking on the challenge of globalizing our business- Waseda’s Honjo Campus from the Sky: Drone Footage we took drone footage of the idyllic Honjo Campus in Saitama Honjo Senior High School’s beginnings lie with the seminar house established in the Showa period (1926-1989) In the Heisei period (1989-2019) the Joetsu Shinkansen’s Honjo Waseda Station opened and industry-academia collaborations such as research parks and graduate schools were developed With the start of the Reiwa period in 2019 the campus has been increasing its presence as a valuable cultural and industrial promotion base for the region and the University day by day This is aerial footage of the vast campus’ beautiful natural environment and well-equipped educational and research facilities Waseda University Junior and Senior High School drone footage [Campus Store Maps] Packed With Useful Information to Help You Choose Your Lunch [Podcast Column] A Professor’s Work Supporting Stateless People Baba-aruki: Memories of Walking from Takadanobaba to Campus You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience and security scientists searched in vain for way to unleash the natural power of the immune system to fight cancer Their dream is now a reality after two laureates found methods that block the brakes of the immune system and allow it to wage war against tumours Just one year after being diagnosed with tonsil cancer Tomas Dahl received the news every patient dreads; nothing more could be done to save his life after conventional cancer treatments had failed I explained to my kids that I would not make it,” he said However, a new treatment cancer therapy born out of research by the 2018 medicine laureates James Allison and Tasuku Honjo Dahl received a type of immunotherapy drug that uses the power of the body’s own immune system to control immunotherapy is a fourth pillar of cancer treatment and is used alongside radiation By orchestrating the immune system in the right way it has proved possible to control or eliminate cancer in tens of thousands of patients Sharon Belvin was one of the first patients to benefit from an immune checkpoint inhibitor drug which is one form of immunotherapy widely available today she was looking forward to getting married but was instead diagnosed with a type of skin cancer called metastatic melanoma that had spread to her lungs “Every single conventional therapy for melanoma was not very effective It was a death sentence at the time,” she said Belvin was offered the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial for immunotherapy and received a checkpoint inhibitor called ipilimumab It was the first treatment of any type with the ability to offer the hope of survival for patients with metastatic melanoma Belvin’s tumours grew smaller until there was no evidence of cancer after one round of treatment My husband wouldn’t have a wife,” Belvin said Allison received a phone call from Belvin’s doctor suggesting an impromptu meeting with her – it was to have a profound impact on him Despite knowing his work had incredible potential the clinical trials of his checkpoint inhibitor drug were mostly numbers to him at first “I went over to the outpatient clinic and walked into this room with her doctor and she and her husband I suppose it was a life-changing moment,” Allison said The two both cried when Belvin told him she was tumour-free and they kept in touch with Belvin sharing news about the birth of her two children “There are no words to describe what it feels like […] when you have handed someone back their life,” Belvin said Immune checkpoint therapy has fundamentally changed the outcome for certain groups of patients with advanced cancer who were among several cancer patients who joined the two Nobel Prize laureates in Stockholm Sweden in December 2018 to celebrate their achievement “There simply aren’t words to express the gratitude I feel I would not be here today if it wasn’t for you and your discovery,” Dahl told the laureates at the emotionally-charged event Today checkpoint inhibitors have become a standard treatment for a growing list of cancers and have proven effective for treating small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer “Meeting the people who have benefitted from our research is the real prize for me,” said Allison “When I meet patients who tell me: ‘You saved my life,’ it is an unforgettable moment,” Honjo added Allison said he wanted to “do something about cancer,” having witnessed the “ravages of conventional therapies” before losing his mother and other family members to the disease but he did not initially expect his research on the workings of the immune system to lead to a new cancer treatment Both Allison and Honjo set out to understand how a type of white blood cell called T cells work viruses and other dangers such as cancer before multiplying and recruiting other elements of the immune system to join the fight “They can recognise almost anything that nature throws at you,” Allison explains T cells can identify dangers by using a protein on their surface called the T cell receptor that binds to invaders and triggers the immune system to fight them Additional proteins acting as T-cell accelerators are also required to trigger a full-blown immune response Allison studied a protein on the surface of T cells called CTLA-4 He was one of several scientists who observed that CTLA-4 functions as a brake on T cells and thus also regulating the immune cells to avoid them attacking our own tissues This intricate balance between accelerators and brakes is essential for tight control of the immune system While other research teams wanted to see whether this braking mechanism could be used to treat autoimmune diseases Allison had an entirely different approach “One of the ideas I had was that maybe the reason that the immune system isn’t so good at attacking cancer is because it stops the T cells before you have enough to kill all the tumour cells,” he explained He came up with the radical notion that if the molecular brakes could be disabled temporarily it would give T cells a chance to eliminate all the cancer cells When he tested an antibody against CTLA4 that achieved just that the results were spectacular Mice with cancer were cured by treatment with the antibodies that inhibit the brake and unlock anti-tumour T-cell activity “Not only could you treat cancer by ignoring it but you could do it by not trying to activate anything – you just take the brakes off and let the immune system do what it’s going to do,” he said an important clinical study showed checkpoint inhibition therapy had striking effects in patients with advanced melanoma About 20% of people who received the therapy were alive four years after treatment Such remarkable results had never been seen before in this patient group The trials led to the therapeutic antibody ipilimumab (Yervoy) being approved for treating late-stage melanoma Honjo discovered another molecule that influences T cell activity called PD-1 and after years of meticulous experiments in his laboratory at Kyoto University was able to show that it serves as another braking mechanism in the immune system Blocking this brake also triggered attacks on cancer cells but PD-1 worked in a different way to CTLA-4 paving the way for another new treatment capable of destroying tumours Clinical researchers were later able to confirm Honjo’s theories His form of checkpoint inhibition led to responses in more patients and also worked against additional forms of cancer “I was immensely pleased to hear about a patient whose large tumour had been completely cured by PD-1 blockade therapy and to watch her enjoying a round of golf on a TV programme about the breakthrough drug,” Honjo said of a woman who received the checkpoint inhibitors to combat ovarian cancer both scientists’ checkpoint inhibitors were approved by the FDA and were able to be used to help cancer patients Science magazine selected cancer immunotherapy as the number one scientific breakthrough of the year It has since been found that Honjo and Allison’s checkpoint inhibitors have especially strong effects when used together became the first cancer treatment of any type to be approved by the FDA for use regardless of where a tumour is located after 40% of patients with 15 different types of tumour responded to the drug One of the most striking differences between immunotherapy and other cancer treatments is that it offers patients the potential of permanent protection against a cancer taking hold again thanks to the ability of memory T cells to “remember” the cancer’s identity long after the disease has been eliminated. If cancer cells hide from the immune system and later grow into a tumour memory T cells can quickly transform into T cells that can launch an immune response against cancer Allison has described immunotherapy as more than a cancer therapy “This is a way of liberating people from a burden of always having every day to be thinking about the fact that you’ve got this disease that can come back and kill you,” he said The number and range of patients benefiting from immunotherapy is growing but it does not work for everyone yet and there are side effects including the risk of inducing autoimmunity when the immune system attacks healthy tissues in your body Honjo hopes that biomarkers will predict suitable candidates for the treatment while more research will boost the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors many people to push this therapy in a really satisfactory level,” he said The advent of immunotherapy has been described as the cancer equivalent of penicillin which gave rise to a whole generation of antibiotics that changed medicine and consigned most previously fatal infections to history Both laureates believe that the development of their work so far is only just the beginning “I hope this therapy will be widely used and reach to almost everybody in the world hopefully by the end of the century just like the infectious diseases almost eradicated during last century,” Honjo said “I hope this century will be remembered for the century of cancer treatment.” for Nobelprize.orgFirst published May 2024 Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons Tasked with a mission to manage Alfred Nobel's fortune and has ultimate responsibility for fulfilling the intentions of Nobel's will these academic institutions have worked independently to select Nobel Prize laureates Several outreach organisations and activities have been developed to inspire generations and disseminate knowledge about the Nobel Prize Heed my words, dear reader: Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is best played if you go in knowing nothing about it Its twists and turns from the get-go have my brain doing mental gymnastics not just in the game but in trying to figure out how to write around them for this review but keeping your expectations completley wide open lets Paranormasight snake right on in and surprise you when you least expect it to Paranormasight is like a bite-sized version of those two behemoths and will keep you on your toes until the end Alongside being a front runner for ‘worse name in videogame history,’ I’m bestowing Paranormasight the gold for being one of the year’s best surprises Revealed during the last Nintendo Direct livestream - but only in the Japanese version of the show - there was a worrying moment where it seemed like it would be a Japan-only release What starts out as a casual hunt for a local ghost in the game's opening 15 minutes spirals into a sprawling mystery with roots that have been buried in the ground for hundreds and hundreds of years a supernatural hub thanks to a group of ghastly and gruesome urban legends from the Edo period called The Seven Mysteries of Honjo a bunch of powerful Curse Stones start mysteriously appearing granting the owner use of their deadly curses each related to one of the seven mysteries but the bearer of a Curse Stone also has the ability to bring someone back from the dead using a ritual called the Rite Of Resurrection Dredging up someone’s soul isn’t a freebie The Stone-bearer needs to collect enough Soul Dregs to activate the rite - which they get by killing people Caught in this web of killings and deadly curses are Paranormasight’s cast of characters: two detectives investigating a series of murders an average Joe office worker and his occult-loving friend a highschooler and her psychic classmate seeking the truth behind their friend’s suicide and a mother looking for revenge for son’s death with the help of a private investigator hopping between their timelines during different parts of the story Each person is in some way entangled in the wider mystery of the Curse Stones and their timelines interweave as the mystery unfolds I’m a big fan of having multiple parties in mystery games finding out different snippets of information for you It builds a kind of suspense that you don’t get with playing as a single character who hoovers up all the information on their own Connecting details from these different story routes gives you an omnipresent knowledge of things the characters are unaware of which is such a great thrill and it's something that Paranormasight loves to relish The pacing is great too; over 10+ hours it didn’t feel like there was a dip in the game’s tempo The game’s core mystery - the Curse Stones and potentially how to stop them - unfolds as you click on objects in the scene and pick dialogue options You’ll often get a choice of answers some of which lead to the same outcome (booo!) but will often cause a schism in the timeline Investigating a city in the hopes of desperately bringing a loved one back from the dead There are numerous standoffs where you need to navigate a conversation safely or (if things go south) quickly use your Curse Stone before an opponent uses theirs If you do end up biting the dust, you can always start from earlier in the timeline after a quick chat with the elusive Storyteller, a masked man who acts as your fourth-wall-breaking guide - think of The Curator from The Dark Pictures Anthology This dapper trickster will give you hints to avoid the same outcome getting more specific each time you meet an unfortunate end This keeps events moving along nicely as Paranormasight’s puzzles can sometimes get obtuse There was only one occasion where I was properly stumped but it’s an easily forgivable offense in a game that's actively trying to think outside the box The majority of puzzles are clever twists that kept me constantly surprised but that really would be wading into spoiler territory One game feature I will touch upon briefly is Paranormasight’s 360-degree character viewpoint which seriously elevates the game’s horror elements Some visual novels only move the character’s usually-static perspective a little bit but Paranorasight lets you look all around a scene it’s absolutely perfect for ghostie-ghoulie scares You always feel like something is lurking just off-screen or - a Paranormasight favourite - directly behind you especially when they look shocked or scared screeching violins and creepy piano keys start to escalate and press play on that cute puppy compilation video you have waiting in the wings (a legit tactic I use when playing horror games) Paranormasight’s fusing of real Japanese history and complex character drama makes for a brilliant story but there is one bit that feels weird to overlook - namely a subplot involving the blackmail and sexual assault of a high schooler It’s not directly part of the story and is only talked about as second-hand information and it handles the subject better than other similar games but it's still a tired trope of the genre I was hoping Paranormasight would avoid It’s one uncomfortable footnote in what is a brilliant game it was the only thing that made me pause for a second before slapping on the coveted RPS Bestest Best sticker Minor puzzle misses and yucky subplots aside Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjois is this year’s first major surprise It really keeps you hooked until the end with its smart and subversive approach to horror visual novels and its antholgy of ghost tales will give you major chills Here’s hoping it gets the attention it deserves No part of this website or its content may be reproduced without the copyright owner's permission Rock Paper Shotgun is a registered trademark of Gamer Network Limited analysis and opinion from Cancer Research UK Using a patient’s immune system to fight cancer seems like a gloriously simple solution to a horribly complex disease has begun transforming the way we treat certain cancers two scientists who laid the ground work for a suite of new cancer drugs have been recognised from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine “for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.” The duo’s discoveries have revolutionised our understanding of how the immune system sees cancer And at the heart of this revolution is a tiny but extremely powerful immune cell called a T cell T cells live in our bodies and protect us from foreign invaders T cells circulate our bodies scanning for molecular flags that signal ‘danger’ And they’re constantly making decisions about how to react to what they’re inspecting or alert other immune cells to start an attack T cells carry an array of molecular machinery on their surface that helps them make this choice we now know the inner workings of two key components – called CTLA-4 and PD-1 – make T cells tick In 1996, Allison and his team found that CTLA-4 works like a silencing switch on T cells – preventing them from assembling an army of supporting immune cells to attack foreign invaders the team showed early signs of how this knowledge could transform cancer treatment They gave mice with cancer a molecule that blocks CTLA-4 freeing T cells to build the immune response – the tumours started to shrink a Cancer Research UK-funded immunologist from University College London worked in Allison’s lab shortly after this seminal work was unveiled “Allison was trying to understand what actually makes T cells active and during these investigations he worked out how T cells were made inactive,” he says Allison realised immediately that this knowledge could inform new cancer treatments He started talking to pharmaceutical companies and spread the word that CTLA-4 could be a promising new drug target “This Nobel Prize really shows that basic science can have a huge impact on medicine,” says Quezada The surface of T cells now seemed like the best place to look for new molecules that controlled these immune cells. Only a few years later Professor Tasuku Honjo and his team identified another molecule that influences T cell activity PD-1 sticks to a molecule on cancer cells called PD-L1 This interaction causes the immune cells to ignore the tumour cell And drugs stopping this molecular ‘handshake’ help reveal tumour cells to the immune system allowing T cells to attack and kill the cancer cells Watch this video to see how these drugs work Both CTLA-4 and PD-1 can be manipulated by drugs called checkpoint inhibitors If we didn’t know how these molecules worked then the immune-boosting drugs of today Read more: New immunotherapy drugs hit the headlines – how do they work? many companies are now developing drugs that block CTLA-4 And the hunt for other similar molecules continues Ipilimumab (Yervoy) was the first of its kind to emerge from Allison’s discovery It’s designed to block CTLA-4 so that the T cells stay switched on freeing them to coordinate an attack on cancer cells Immunotherapy is literally a life-saver: I’m here today thanks to drugs developed from these researchers’ work Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and Nivolumab (Opdivo) target the PD-1 molecules on the surface of T cells it releases the ‘brakes’ on the immune cells so they can find and kill cancer cells In many cases these drugs are still being tested in clinical trials But for some advanced cancers they have already saved lives and she was told she would have months to live Thanks to immunotherapy her cancer is now stable And she offers her tribute to all the scientists behind today’s prize-winning discoveries “Immunotherapy is literally a life-saver: I’m here today thanks to drugs developed from these researchers’ work It’s just fantastic that they’ve been recognised with a Nobel Prize.” Jolene says she hopes this prize inspires researchers to redouble their efforts to uncover the next generation of treatments Nivolumab (Opdivo) and pembrolizumab (Keytruda) are treatments for some people with: Ipilimumab (Yervoy) is a treatment for advanced melanoma Atezolizumab (Tecentriq) is a treatment for some people with: All these drugs are in clinical trials for a range of other cancers too responses to immunotherapy like Jolene’s are the exception But Quezada is feeling good about the future “If you think CTLA-4 and PD-1 have revolutionised the way we think about cancer therapy in the last eight years imagine what the drugs in the pipeline could do,” he says scientists must build their understanding of how these drugs work in patients so we know the best ways to boost response rates “That’s why we need to keep funding research in this area and engaging patients so we can understand why drugs work and more importantly what’s going on when they don’t work While many were looking at the inner workings of cancer cells in the hunt for new drugs these immunologists asked how the body sees cancer Honjo and their teams thrust the immune system into the spotlight as a powerful tool in treating cancer I have Colorectal cancer that seems to have metastasized to a small lung nodule which has doubled in 8 months 3-7 cm Been to local hospital and Guys Oncology clinics but because it’s mid rectal they will use a permanent stoma I see all these wonderful new ways of treating cancer but they don’t get down to the hospitals quick enough I was told at Guys that a treatment I pointed out having read about would probably take about 3 – 5 years to be on the NHS list for locals to use Yes it’s good to know after so many stagnant years science is getting on top of potential cures but wouldn’t it be better to wait until they’re nearly ready to use as some of us will probably have died hoping For many of us it’s just a fantasyland of hope and then disappointment – to me this is not a caring path to take for any victims of this disease Aids (manifested by mankind) had money thrown at it by the acting profession how can we contact u ,if we need this treatment There are some very clever people in this world The way medicines and various treatments are moving along so fast Let’s hope that you achieve your goals that you want too Only 62 so praying something like this MAY HELP I have no words that can express what this research has meant to me and my family I find it extremely difficult to talk about Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo The horror-tinged occult mystery visual novel is one of my favorite games of the year but explaining what makes it so special inherently takes away some of its strength It is a title that lives and dies on its novelty and mentioning any of its most compelling twists robs it of its potent ability to surprise novelty is not the only thing Paranormasight has to offer it's also just a generally good experience one that's perfect for these chilly late-October days Paranormasight takes place in the 1980s in Sumida City I'm always charmed by video games that take place in fictionalized versions of real locations like last year's melancholic and beautiful Norco Norco exaggerated the tensions present in the real Norco This world is true to its real-life counterpart even when it doesn't form a 1:1 reconstruction seems focused on sincerely informing players about the actual Sumida City Paranormasight was developed with direct input from the Sumida City Tourism Division and it's evident in the amount of Sumida's culture and history represented in the game The player is given a file folder with information on the case they're attempting to solve that includes character biographies descriptions of items and other generally useful things the player is also given a file that outlines the history of one specific part of Sumida City and I don't have a comprehensive knowledge of Sumida City's history but the information seems fairly thorough and accurate Paranormasight is not just a dry account of Sumida City's history All that information only serves to enhance the eerie designed by longtime "Kingdom Hearts" character artist Gen Kobayashi are drawn with harsh lines that are both appealing and a little threatening Those characters — who are all illustrated in 2D — are sometimes placed in pseudo-3D environments The game's music is composed by Hidenori Iwasaki he also worked on the incredible Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin soundtrack Iwasaki's composition is sometimes bouncy and energetic sometimes gentle and always extremely compelling still in service of the game's spooky central mystery which I'm still hesitant to talk about if you're in the market for something gripping and just a little spooky this late Halloween season Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo won't disappoint Sorrel Kerr-Jung is a junior studying virtual reality game development at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnist do not reflect those of The Post. Do you agree? Tell Sorrel by tweeting her at @sorrelquest Tasuku Honjo’s speech at the Nobel Banquet On behalf of Professor Jim Allison and myself I wish to express our heartful appreciation to the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute and the Nobel Foundation 1 cause of death during the last half-century The trend is getting even worse as the average life span increases Considering that the chance of such mutation and selection must be unbelievably low, we human beings are all very fortunate. Jim and I acknowledge that we were selected for this highest of all scientific honors. We accept the distinction with our deepest gratitude – gratitude for the great institutions that have supported our work, for our many devoted and skilled coworkers, without whom our achievements would have been impossible, and, finally, for Alfred Nobel for his wisdom to institute the prize and the people of Sweden for a fantastic Nobel Week. Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons. Tasked with a mission to manage Alfred Nobel's fortune and has ultimate responsibility for fulfilling the intentions of Nobel's will. For more than a century, these academic institutions have worked independently to select Nobel Prize laureates. Several outreach organisations and activities have been developed to inspire generations and disseminate knowledge about the Nobel Prize. , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved More » More » More » More » More » More » The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to National Institutes of Health grantee James P Allison shares the prize with Tasuku Honjo for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said “by stimulating the inherent ability of our immune system to attack tumor cells this year’s Nobel Laureates have established an entirely new principle for cancer therapy.” Allison discovered that a particular protein (CTLA-4) acts as a braking system preventing full activation of the immune system when a cancer is emerging By delivering an antibody that blocks that protein Allison showed the brakes could be released The discovery has led to important developments in cancer drugs called checkpoint inhibitors and dramatic responses to previously untreatable cancers Honjo discovered a protein on immune cells and revealed that it also operates as a brake “Jim’s work was pivotal for cancer therapy by enlisting our own immune systems to launch an attack on cancer and arrest its development,” said NIH Director Francis S “NIH is proud to have supported this groundbreaking research.” Allison has received continuous funding from NIH since 1979 receiving more than $13.7 million primarily from NIH’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) “This work has led to remarkably effective who we were previously unable to help,” said NCI Director Ned Sharpless “Their findings have ushered in the era of cancer immunotherapy represents a ‘fourth modality’ for treating cancer A further understanding of the biology underlying the immune system and cancer has the potential to help many more patients.” Allison’s elegant and groundbreaking work in basic immunology over four decades and its important applicability to cancer is a vivid demonstration of the critical nature of interdisciplinary biomedical research supported by NIH,” says NIAID Director Anthony S NIH Office of the Director (OD) NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health® U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Much like the urban legends at the center of its story Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo has largely flown under the radar Though Square Enix has marketed the horror-adjacent visual novel only mildly the title has spread through word of mouth Paranormasight didn’t entirely turn out to be what I expected But for those into Japanese folklore and visual novels with light gameplay Paranormasight has a few tricks up its sleeve some players lament the lack of agency in visual novels others enjoy taking in the stories they offer I count some of its more interactive titles among my absolute favorite games Paranormasight drew me in not with its drawings (though the art is suitably macabre) but with its flashes of interactivity But it’s still a game with choices offered and some puzzle mechanics bolstering its story Paranormasight sets its stage in the Sumida Ward of Tokyo Local urban legends portend a ghastly demise for anyone who comes across the sites of their occurrences under the right circumstances several trinkets appear in the hands of various people granting them the power to take a life in the manner of their corresponding legend—so long as they meet the conditions If any of them successfully wipes out the other curse-bearers that individual receives the power to bring someone back from the dead While the lore of this premise fascinates, its success largely hinges on the strength of these characters and their companions. On this front, Paranormasight delivers. The delightful cast comprises eccentric detectives, precocious students, and other memorable paranormal fanatics. Think Twin Peaks meets Death Note and you have a good idea of the tone of this experience That’s also to say that while Paranormasight offers up a suitably spooky soundtrack and some visuals Paranormasight proves more humorous than anything This approach makes each character endearing With branching story paths linking to a specific character players can jump from one to the other between chapters to get the story from various perspectives many of the puzzles rely on this story jump The best ones involve finding ways to get certain characters together in the same place at the same time Have you ever watched a mystery movie and hoped that multiple characters who each have a piece of the puzzle could just meet up Paranormasight offers the joy of that experience And with each character having such a distinct personality pulling these strings rewards players with crossovers rivaling a Marvel movie The worst of these involve trawling through various chapters clicking on everything until the game decides you can progress One multi-step puzzle involving escaping a room had me engaged until the solution lay in another character’s chapter with optional dialogue that only proved relevant if one clicked on it enough When puzzles involve piecing together lore to figure out solutions This mystery-adventure game provides the player with many questions The many threads of this narrative tapestry ensure that players don’t just solve one mystery but many smaller related ones This ingenious premise helps sustain the Paranormasight’s roughly 15-hour runtime I sometimes found it tough to keep track of them all even with the helpful lore book in the game’s menu that constantly updates It’s this kind of grandiosity that causes Paranormasight’s narrative to buckle towards the end the branching nature of the story clips any failed paths before they grow too far with a meta-storyteller character telling the player where to retry to get the desired outcome the branching storylines continue into five different endings plus a “true” sixth one to find after reaching the whole story’s conclusion each of the six endings proves a dud since the story gets spread too thin by this point Paranormasight offers an otherwise strong final act The resolution of the primary mystery offers a surprisingly heartfelt conclusion for a few of the characters the length of the narrative succeeds in fleshing out each figure and this section may bring tears to the eyes of those most invested but the core themes of Paranormasight make it a mostly worthwhile tale to pass along With an engaging story about urban legends bolstered by a branching storyline Paranormasight hovers over other visual novels with its many interactive elements It suffers from the curses of certain puzzles that prove arbitrary and a story that gets spread too thin But the captivating characters and central mystery keep the tale of this mystery-adventure title as one legend worth spreading Andrew comes from the majestic land of New Jersey (the part that doesn't smell) he writes and performs it whenever possible He gets his powers from listening to indie folk music and drinking aloe water Honjo has been described as initiating a historic turning point—a “penicillin moment”—in the fight against cancer World-renowned medical scientist Tasuku Honjo will speak at the University of California San Diego at 10 a.m as part of the annual Kyoto Prize Symposium Honjo received the 2016 Kyoto Prize—Japan’s highest private award for global achievement—in the area of “Basic Sciences” for his contributions to medical science including the identification of several important immunoregulatory molecules which has led to the development of effective cancer immunotherapy He also illuminated the mechanism for the functional diversification of antibodies by clarifying Class Switch Recombination and its responsible enzyme The Kyoto Prize Symposium will feature the public talk by Honjo in the Price Center East Ballroom on the UC San Diego campus UC San Diego will bring high school students—many from underserved areas of the region—to campus for the talk The goal is to introduce them to the university and the idea of pursuing a career in STEM (science “UC San Diego is honored to participate once again in the Kyoto Prize Symposium,” said Chancellor Pradeep K “This international event honors those who contribute greatly to scientific progress while bringing together some of the world’s top scientists and artists to inspire the next generation of future leaders and innovators.” Honjo’s work has been described as initiating a historic turning point—a “penicillin moment”—in the fight against cancer His discovery of the immunoregulatory molecule PD-1 has led to a new class of cancer drugs that unleash the body’s own immune system against cancer PD-1 is a protein produced on the surface of some T-cells and can be thought of as the “brakes” of the immune system; the protein helps keep the immune system from running out of control and attacking normal then perhaps a patient’s own immune system could be used against cancer cells PD-1 inhibitors such as the drugs nivolumab and pembrolizumab are showing promise for more effective treatment of certain types of cancer Honjo is a professor emeritus at the University of Kyoto in Japan he has received the prestigious Tang Prize the Coley Award for Distinguished Research the Smalley Memorial Award for Immunotherapy and Cancer and the Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has served as a fellow at both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Carnegie Institution of Washington Honjo’s presentation is one in the three-part Kyoto Prize Symposium hosted jointly by UC San Diego with the University of San Diego San Diego State University and Point Loma Nazarene University Established by the Inamori Foundation in 1984 the Kyoto Prize strives to honor significant contributions to the scientific cultural and spiritual betterment of humankind The president of this nonprofit organization is Kazuo Inamori founder and chairman emeritus of Kyocera and KDDI Corporation The March 15 talk with Honjo will take place in UC San Diego’s Price Center East Ballroom from 10 to 11:30 a.m. For more information, please visit www.kyotoprizeusa.org own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment University of Manchester provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK View all partners The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to two immunologists for their revolutionary approaches to treat cancer. James Allison, based in the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, and Tasuku Honjo led exciting and groundbreaking work on developing new types of immunotherapy that help our immune system fight cancer Immune cells need to be very tightly controlled to stop them being switched on inappropriately and causing inflammation Cells in our immune system have a series of on and off switches that work in harmony to help regulate their function The off switches – called “checkpoints” – are a bit like the brakes on your car This immune balancing act generally works well Tumours can encourage the immune brakes to stay on which means our immune response is dampened and the immune cells cannot kill the tumour effectively By exploiting knowledge of how immune cells work the researchers found that they could help the immune cells attack the tumour The treatment works by releasing the brakes from specific immune cells called T cells This allows the T cells to stay switched on and releases them to kill the tumour cells Allison was studying a protein (called CTLA-4) that is a critical brake for our immune system. It competes with our “on” switches to help control immunity. He realised that blocking CTLA-4 action could have amazing potential to help our immune cells attack tumour cells Honjo discovered another group of checkpoints called the PD-1 family This family of proteins works in a completely different way to CTLA-4 but also acts as an immune brake Both researchers saw the potential of their work and realised that targeting these two sets of immune brakes could revolutionise cancer therapy The discovery of checkpoint inhibitors as immunotherapy has been an enormous breakthrough in cancer therapy because these therapies have such different mechanisms Combination therapy has proved in some cases to be even more effective at treating patient’s tumours than one drug on its own The field of immunotherapy is one of the most exciting fields in immunology As we learn more about immunology and how immune cells work we are identifying more checkpoints and more ways we can look to harness the power of our immune system to treat cancer Immunotherapy is also important for other diseases like autoimmunity where the immune system is overreacting we may want to dampen the immune system to help restore the normal balance the number of targets we can look to manipulate and the application of immunotherapies is growing making this an incredibly exciting time to be an immunologist This prize awards a fantastic body of work from two outstanding labs and is an amazing achievement it is important to recognise that this groundbreaking research has been built from fundamental work on immunology and that there is a crucial place for both fundamental as well as clinically applied (so-called “translational”) work in research The physician and immunologist Professor Dr Tasuku Honjo a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina has been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine who conducts research at Kyoto University (Japan) will receive the prize jointly with James P Allison from the MD Anderson Cancer Centre (USA) The two scientists are being honoured for their work on an immunotherapy against cancer congratulated Tasuku Honjo on this prestigious award: “With this Nobel Prize important insights into the fundamental understanding of the immune system are being recognized These findings have the potential to contribute to improving cancer treatment We are all the more delighted that an active Leopoldina member is being recognized for his pioneering research with this year's Nobel Prize.” Tasuku Honjo (born 1942) attended Kyoto University (Japan) to study medicine where he received his doctorate and habilitated in 1975 he was professor of genetics at Osaka University (Japan) He has been a professor at Kyoto University since 1984 initially at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and since 2005 at the Department of Immunology and Genomic Medicine Tasuku Honjo has been honoured with numerous awards for his research He received the Robert Koch Prize in 2012 and the Kyoto Prize in 2016 Honjo joined the Leopoldina in 2003 and is a member of the microbiology and immunology section The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is currently endowed with a total of nine million Swedish kronor (equivalent to around 870,000 euros) All Nobel Prizes are traditionally bestowed on the laureates on 10 December the anniversary of founder Alfred Nobel’s death Next News Back Member Profile Tasuku Honjo Nobelprize.org Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina e – German National Academy of Sciences – Jägerberg 1 | 06108 Halle (Saale) Phone: +49 (0)345 47 239 - 600 | Telefax: +49 (0)345 47 239 - 919 E-Mail: leopoldina@leopoldina.org © 2025 Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften We use cookies to provide, personalize, and improve our website. These are text files that are stored on your computer via your internet browser. We use these technically necessary cookies to provide the function of the website. Please refer to our data protection statement for more information about the use of cookies and processing of your data © 2025 Eurogamer.net a brand of IGN Entertainment Eurogamer is a registered trademark of Gamer Network Limited By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy which boasts vintage paintings throughout and a kendo armor display Your browser does not support JavaScript, or it is disabled．Please check the site policy for more information National Report OSAKA--Nobel laureate Tasuku Honjo’s long-running dispute with Osaka-based Ono Pharmaceutical Co for royalties following his discovery of the anti-cancer drug Opdivo has finally led to a settlement in which the pharmaceutical giant will pay him 5 billion yen ($44 million) in compensation a distinguished professor of molecular immunology at Kyoto University shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with U.S immunologist James Patrick Allison in 2018 for their discovery of a protein that proved effective in the fight against cancer Their research was the basis for developing Opdivo which was manufactured and sold by Ono Pharmaceutical the two sides reached a settlement in which Ono Pharmaceutical will pay Honjo a lump sum of 5 billion yen and donate 23 billion yen to a research foundation established at Kyoto University to support young researchers will retract the lawsuit before the Osaka District Court and has also agreed to work with Ono Pharmaceutical to pursue pharmaceutical research and increase awareness of Opdivo Kyoto University will manage the research foundation Neither Honjo nor Ono Pharmaceutical will have a say in who is selected to receive funds Honjo cooperated with Ono Pharmaceutical in a patent lawsuit over Opdivo against a U.S Honjo said he was told by Ono Pharmaceutical that the company would pay him 40 percent of the settlement money it received but in the end it was only willing to shell out about 1 percent of the promised windfall Honjo filed the lawsuit in June 2020 seeking the remainder of what he felt was owed him Honjo said: “We have been able to reach a satisfactory settlement My aim is to support from a long-term perspective basic research through the funds that will be turned over by the company as well as through other donations.” held a news conference the same day and expressed satisfaction at the terms of the settlement He said the donation to the research foundation constituted a long cherished dream of the company Japan’s stagnant vaccine industry falls far behind in COVID-19 race Supreme Court says companies must pay for asbestos damage Compensation set in high-profile bullying suicide case Nissan’s damages case against absent Ghosn opens in Japan Kyoto University scholarship fund targeted at future researchers Key questions in the Moritomo Gakuen scandal still unanswered Information on the latest cherry blossom conditions Please right click to use your browser’s translation function.) A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II In-house News and Messages No reproduction or republication without written permission The 2017 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize has been awarded to five scientists for transformative discoveries in the field of cancer immunology.Collectively their work has elucidated foundational mechanisms in cancer’s ability to evade immune recognition and has profoundly altered the understanding of disease development and treatment Their discoveries have led to the development of effective immune therapies for several types of cancer The honorees will share a $500,000 prize and will be recognized at a day-long symposium on Oct 5 at Harvard Medical School.The Warren Alpert Foundation in association with Harvard Medical School honors trailblazing scientists whose work has led to the understanding The award recognizes seminal discoveries that hold the promise to change our understanding of disease or our ability to treat it “The discoveries honored by the Warren Alpert Foundation over the years are remarkable in their scope and potential,” said George Q “The work of this year’s recipients is nothing short of breathtaking in its profound impact on medicine These discoveries have reshaped our understanding of the body’s response to cancer and propelled our ability to treat several forms of this recalcitrant disease.” The Warren Alpert Foundation Prize is given internationally the foundation has awarded nearly $4 million to 59 scientists eight honorees have also received a Nobel Prize Honjoand Sharpe are indisputable standouts in the field of cancer immunology,” said Bevin Kaplan they are helping to turn the tide in the global fight against cancer We couldn't honor more worthy recipients for the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize.” The 2017 award: Unraveling the mysterious interplay between cancer and immunity Understanding how tumor cells sabotage the body’s immune defenses stems from the collective work of many scientists over many years and across multiple institutions Each of the five honorees identified key pieces of the puzzle The notion that cancer and immunity are closely connected and that a person’s immune defenses can be turned against cancer is at least a century old the definitive proof and demonstration of the steps in this process were outlined through findings made by the five 2017 Warren Alpert prize recipients so-called checkpoint inhibitor molecules rein in the immune system to ensure that it does not attack the body’s own cells the five award recipients demonstrated how this normal self-defense mechanism can be hijacked by tumors as a way to evade immune surveillance and dodge an attack Subverting this mechanism allows cancer cells to survive and thrive A foundational discovery made in the 1980s elucidated the role of a molecule on the surface of T cells the body’s elite assassins trained to seek A protein called CTLA-4 emerged as a key regulator of T cell behavior—one that signals to T cells the need to retreat from an attack Experiments in mice lacking CTLA-4 and use of CTLA-4 antibodies demonstrated that absence of CTLA-4 or blocking its activity could lead to T cell activation and tumor destruction Subsequent work identified a different protein on the surface of T cells—PD-1—as another key regulator of T cell response Mice lacking this protein developed an autoimmune disease as a result of aberrant T cell activity and over-inflammation This was followed by the discovery of a second partner for PD-1—the molecule PD-L2—which also appeared to tame T-cell activity by binding to PD-1 The identification of these molecules led to a set of studies showing that their presence on human and mouse tumors rendered the tumors resistant to immune eradication A series of experiments further elucidated just how tumors exploit the interaction between PD-1 and PD-L1 to survive some tumor cells appeared to express PD-L1 essentially “wrapping” themselves in it to avoid immune recognition and destruction Additional work demonstrated that using antibodies to block this interaction disarmed the tumors rendering them vulnerable to immune destruction.Collectively the five scientists’ findings laid the foundation for antibody-based therapies that modulate the function of these molecules as a way to unleash the immune system against cancer cells.Antibody therapy that targets CTLA-4 is currently approved by the FDA for the treatment of melanoma PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors have already shown efficacy in a broad range of cancers and have been approved by the FDA for the treatment of melanoma; kidney; lung; head and neck cancer; bladder cancer; some forms of colorectal cancer; Hodgkin lymphoma and Merkel cell carcinoma "I am humbled to be included among the illustrious scientists who have been honored by the Warren Alpert Foundation for their contributions to the treatment and cure of human disease in its 30+ year history It is also recognition of the many investigators who have labored for decades to realize the promise of the immune system in treating cancer.” -James Allison “The award is a great honor and a wonderful recognition of our work.” -Lieping Chen “I am thrilled to have made a difference in the lives of cancer patients and to be recognized by fellow scientists for my part in the discovery of the PD-1/PD-L1 and PD-L2 pathway and its role in tumor immune evasion I am deeply honored to be a recipient of the Alpert Award and to be recognized for my part in the work that has led to effective cancer immunotherapy The success of immunotherapy has unleashed the energies of a multitude of scientists to further advance this novel strategy.” -Gordon Freeman “I am extremely honored to receive the Warren Alpert Foundation Prize I am very happy that our discovery of PD-1 in 1992 and subsequent 10-year basic research on PD-1 led to its clinical application as a novel cancer immunotherapy I hope this development will encourage many scientists working in the basic biomedical field.” -Tasuku Honjo “I am truly honored to be a recipient of the Alpert Award It is especially meaningful to be recognized by my colleagues for discoveries that helped define the biology of the CTLA-4 and PD-1 pathways The clinical translation of our fundamental understanding of these pathways illustrates the value of basic science research and I hope this inspires other scientists.” -Arlene Sharpe Each year the Warren Alpert Foundation receives between 30 and 50 nominations from scientific leaders worldwide Prize recipients are selected by the foundation’s scientific advisory board which is composed of distinguished biomedical scientists and chaired by the dean of Harvard Medical School.Warren Alpert (1920-2007) established the prize in 1987 after reading about the development of a vaccine for hepatitis B Alpert decided on the spot that he would like to reward such breakthroughs so he picked up the phone and told the vaccine’s creator Kenneth Murray of the University of Edinburgh Alpert then set about creating the foundation to convene a panel of experts to identify scientists from around the world whose research has had a direct impact on the treatment of disease Studies detailing brain-immune crosstalk could inform treatments for autism Scientists weigh in on the spread of H5N1 and highlight clues that portend what might come next Researchers recognized for accomplishments in biological sciences © 2025 by The President and Fellows of Harvard College Interview with Medicine Laureate Tasuku Honjo on 6 December 2018 during the Nobel Week in Stockholm Read the interview The 2018 Nobel Laureates met in Grünewalds Hall at Konserthuset Stockholm on 12 December 2018 for the traditional round-table discussion and TV program ‘Nobel Minds’ The discussion was hosted by the BBC’s Zeinab Badawi discoveries and achievements and how these might find a practical application Telephone interview with Tasuku Honjo following the announcement of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on 1 October 2018 congratulations on the award of the Nobel Prize AS: What was your first reaction on hearing the news certainly I am very much pleased and very much honoured AS: It’s the first Nobel Prize awarded for cancer therapy for many years for treatment certainly this is the first time and I think that many people tried very hard to cure the cancer but fortunately we So for me it’s more than happy to see many patients – often I can see them telling me I’m very pleased to hear what I have done is really meaningful AS: It shows that you never really know which way things will go in research because you didn’t set out to discover a cure It’s totally different from the engineering Many people tried to find the therapy for cancer I’m very fortunate that I also thought about it you have to try many things and if you’re lucky you can hit AS: And what is your hope for the future of immune checkpoint inhibitors so we wish to have some biomarkers to predict whether he or she is responsive or not definitely we wish to improve the efficacy of this treatment So I believe these two problems will be solved in the near future and indeed I think the award of the prize is a very hopeful sign for a very large number of people around the world today many people to push this therapy in a really satisfactory level This is just the beginning of the whole story We greatly look forward to welcoming you to Stockholm in December American and Japanese immunologists win 2018 award for their work on cancer therapy Two scientists who discovered how to harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer have won the 2018 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine will share the 9m Swedish kronor (£775,000) prize announced by the Nobel assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm The scientists’ groundbreaking work on the immune system has paved the way for a new class of cancer drugs that are already dramatically changing outcomes for patients It is the first time the development of a cancer therapy has been recognised with a Nobel prize Allison said he was in a “state of shock” about having achieved “every scientist’s dream” “I’d like to give a shout out to all the [cancer] patients out there to let them know we’re making progress here,” he said who began his research after a medical school classmate died from stomach cancer said: “I want to continue my research … so that this immune therapy will save more cancer patients than ever.” The immune system normally seeks out and destroys mutated cells but cancer finds sophisticated ways to hide from immune attacks One way is by ramping up braking mechanisms designed to prevent immune cells from attacking normal tissue Allison discovered the first of these built-in brakes Other teams were investigating the potential of enhancing the action of checkpoints to treat autoimmune diseases but Allison showed that doing the reverse – switching off the brakes – could produce remarkable results in treating mice with cancer I didn’t get into these studies to cure cancer I wanted to understand how T cells work,” said Allison he added that a family history of cancer (his mother died of lymphoma when he was 10) and having witnessed the ravages of radiotherapy and chemotherapy meant he always had an eye on whether his work might lead to a new therapy “It was always in the back of my mind,” he said Honjo discovered a second checkpoint that worked through a different mechanism and treatments based on this work have produced dramatic improvements to patient outcomes in the clinic The idea of mobilising the immune system to tackle cancer was first proposed more than a century ago but it was only after the discoveries of Allison and Honjo that this tantalising possibility could be turned into a clinical treatment but have been shown to produce remarkable results in treating lung cancer said he was once approached at a golf club by a fellow player who thanked him for the discovery that treated his lung cancer ‘Thanks to you I can play golf again’,” Honjo said A comment like that makes me happier than any prize.” who is professor and chair of immunology at the University of Texas’s MD Anderson Cancer Center “studied a known protein that functions as a brake on the immune system He realised the potential of releasing the brake and thereby unleashing our immune cells to attack tumours He then developed this concept into a new approach for treating patients a professor of immunology at Kyoto University discovered a different protein on immune cells that also appeared to operate as a brake but with a different mechanism of action.” A large number of checkpoint therapy trials are currently under way against most types of cancer Cancer Research UK’s chief clinician and a senior scientist at the Francis Crick Institute in London said the discoveries had been transformational for understanding the potential of the human immune system to control or even eradicate tumours and blood cancers metastatic melanoma was largely incurable,” he said with over a third of patients deriving long-term benefit and even cures from such therapies.” of the University of Manchester and author of The Beautiful Cure a book that describes the work that led to today’s prize said: “I’m so thrilled that a Nobel has been awarded for this game-changing cancer therapy It doesn’t work for everyone but lives have been saved and it has sparked a revolution in thinking about the many other ways in which the immune system can be harnessed or unleashed to fight cancer and other illnesses I think this is just the tip of the iceberg – many more medicines like this are on the horizon.” The Nobel prize in physics will be announced on Tuesday, followed by chemistry on Wednesday, peace on Friday and economics on Monday. The literature prize has been cancelled this year following allegations of sexual misconduct. "none"); */ } $("document").ready(function($) { let url = window.location.pathname; let nav_home = $('.only-home'); if (url != '/' && url != '/#') nav_home.removeClass("row"); }); $("document").ready(function($) { let url = window.location.pathname; let nav_home = $('.only-home'); let nav_home2 = $('.only-home2'); let nav = $('.without-home'); if (url != '') { $(window).bind('scroll load resize' "@id": "https://www.theworldfolio.com//interviews/honjo-chemical-firm-seeks-global-partners-to-support-international-expansion-/5738/" } "headline": "Honjo: chemical firm seeks global partners to support international expansion " "description": "With technological prowess in functional lithium compounds and zinc products Honjo Chemical Corporation is set to expand internationally With technological prowess in functional lithium compounds and zinc products Why do you believe Japan’s chemical industry has been so successful despite stiff regional competition What are the key contributions Japan makes to the global chemical sector?The chemical industry in Japan plays a key role in every single industry via provision of a variety of functional materials thereby supporting the entire industrial world These materials contribute to improving people’s lives in diverse fields stable supply of food and recycling of wastes They assist “sustainable development geared to achieving the SDGs” which are being increasingly tackled by numerous corporations all over the world Such contribution by Japan’s chemical industry to industry in general is a merit that cannot be seen in other industries and shows the limitless possibilities of chemicals It is true that basic chemistry manufacturers in Japan do not have much competitive advantage in terms of price over competitors in North America midstream functional chemical products are produced from basic chemicals via a number of processes Japan’s chemical manufacturers produce millions of functional chemicals which express functions that cannot be achieved by basic chemicals and supply them to customers as high value-added products Most manufacturers that produce functional chemicals specialize in a specific field and produce high value-added intermediate materials that uniquely set them apart from competitors Another characteristic of functional chemical manufacturers is their high profitability has won the trust of customers by building systems for quickly responding to all kinds of specifications by combining on-site capabilities such as “ability to cope with needs,” “trial/small lot production” and “quick production” Because production of functional chemicals requires various expertise it is a field where Japan’s chemical manufacturers can manifest superiority in overseas markets based on their technological prowess but are mainly focused on the functional chemicals You mentioned that we lack natural resources in Japan Japanese companies have tried to add value to their products with their technologies especially in response to customers' needs What do you believe to be your core strengths that have allowed you so much sustained success over the years it's a matter of technology and original skill Another important thing is conversing with customers We place much importance on dialogue with customers so that we will understand their needs and requests "we are side by side with the customers” That means we are trying to respond to their needs which is something we have continued to do for a long time In our interview with Asaka Riken’s Yukita-san he discussed new vectors of growth/new key applications for lithium going forward While already widespread in consumer electronics and more recently in powering batteries for EV he discussed the future role lithium could play in exciting new applications What are the key applications you are targeting going forward What new applications do you believe lithium tech will serve in the future the major purposes of lithium were ceramics and glass lithium is mostly used for producing lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and mobile devices one possible use of lithium is its use in air batteries and it could also be used for nuclear fusion as well We also specialized in lithium nitrite solution and lithium silicate - which are used for anti-neutralizing agents and also for concrete then we developed technology to produce lithium and now we continue to evolve our technology to the next stage we would like to continue to develop new products beyond lithium | | | Previous Next We talked about the lithium bromide water solution in which you have a strong domestic market share You have a number of core technologies and products that serve vital roles and applications in society We would like to know more about this product line-up that you have Please introduce us to what you believe to be your core products We have been making these products for a while the needs of the applications have changed and we have been trying to cater to these changing needs side by side with our customers.  The other specialty is zinc dust This is mostly used as an anti-rusting agent for painting We are trying to utilize this in niche fields as well we have many competitors in the zinc oxide field so we are also trying to find a niche field that we can enter but we are focusing on metallic lithium and organic lithium which are used as materials for semiconductors but that's something we are working on together with our clients and we are seeing increasing demand in this field as well You mentioned some interesting applications and customer bases and even semiconductor manufacturing equipment is there a type of customer or client you're focusing on so we would like to catch up with these increasing demands with our technology We can say the same thing about semiconductors we are pursuing some niche fields for semiconductors and trying to supply the materials for this niche field we need certain equipment and technologies we have an environment of minus 80 degrees Celsius a relatively low temperature in the chemical industry to respond to the needs of the chemical compounds which is relatively earlier than our competitors in this industry we can produce a compound that only we can make we can produce diverse products tailored to many different industries such as medical material and fine chemicals since we have a particular set of equipment for that purpose we always work side by side with the customers to make the development happen and bring that to the mass production stage That's something we are also focusing on You mentioned you work very closely with customers I'd like to know how collaboration generally plays in your business model You mentioned close ties with your customers How does that extend to other chemical material manufacturers especially regarding the international market and sourcing those materials you've been in Indonesia developing a network for sourcing zinc and zinc dust we started to import zinc dust and zinc oxide from our partner firm in Indonesia, “PT Indo Lysaght” and sell them to our customers after processing them into products that meet our customers’ needs We are searching for new and future avenues of business development in cooperation with “PT Indo Lysaght.” we have been doing business mainly in the domestic market but we also have the overseas market on our radar going forward We have a subsidiary called Kyokuto Metal Singapore and we want to utilize this presence as a hub to expand into Southeast Asia we would like to do more research in the local market and analyze mid- and long-term trends for different markets We would also like to continue gathering such information in Singapore we would like to select the most promising country and find a potential partner we can work with to enter that specific country or market we would like to expand our lithium and zinc businesses we are looking for new partner firms especially in overseas markets We are actively promoting business development overseas We are paying a lot of attention to Southeast Asia and are in the process of exploring India and Africa We have yet to set a specific target country or market but are still trying to find promising countries or markets we started entrusting production to a company in Indonesia to work on basic product production We then import that to Japan for processing which will require more advanced technologies We are now working with the Indonesian company for production and we also have a subsidiary in Singapore We will explore what we can do in Southeast Asia while utilizing these existing production partners and subsidiaries from now we are planning overseas business development focusing especially on “lithium compound” and “zinc” among our products Imagine we come back on your very last day when you're about to retire and leave this company to the next generation What dreams and goals would you like to have achieved for this company by then that you would like to tell us about in that new interview I would like to help young talent grow further we are putting the seeds down for new developments right now and I hope to see them bloom in 20 years from now Maybe some of them may not respond to the needs at that time but others may remain as the pillar of this business and the company in the future I would like to see all of them supporting the growth of this company Our prior generations planted those seeds 60 years ago those seeds are now supporting our company We would like to do the same thing through our current R&D We would like to accumulate technologies so that they will once again bloom in 20 to 30 years’ time and support the company then those seeds will have to be something that will support the company itself I would also like to see those seeds support Japan as a whole so that we can contribute to a sustainable society and sustainable world industrial and financial news about global economies with a focus on understanding them from within who was Nest's VP of program management Shige left Apple along with Nest's co-founders Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers when the company was first getting going served as a senior engineering manager He's planning to stay within the Alphabet family focusing on the next iteration of Google Glass who runs the Aura team independently.  but Nest has been in the press a lot recently Dropcam was acquired by Google for more than $500 million and worked closely with Fadell and the Nest team Dropcam's founder responded by calling Fadell's comment "blatant scapegoating." PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo SQUARE ENIX and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Square Enix Holdings Co. SQUARE ENIX and the SQUARE ENIX logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Square Enix Holdings Co. Our fact checking systematically raises standards in public debate and changes the behaviour of powerful actors We’re campaigning to tackle bad information online protect our elections and improve the quality of information in public debate Our policy work aims to improve the information environment in order to protect and encourage good public debate Our technology and training work is designed to help everyone work faster and smarter We’re a team of independent fact checkers and campaigners who find caused a sensation today in the media by saying that the corona virus is not natural Professor Honjo has denied saying this and there is no evidence that he ever did We’ve also been asked to check this by lots of readers Professor Honjo released a statement on 27 April saying: “In the wake of the pain and unprecedented global suffering caused by the COVID-19 pandemic I am greatly saddened that my name and that of Kyoto University have been used to spread false accusations and misinformation.” Reports of this misinformation appeared as early as 22 April. In interviews and public statements made in the days before at no point did Professor Honjo suggest the new coronavirus was unnatural The false posts also claim incorrectly that Professor Honjo worked in the “Wuhan laboratory in China” for four years. Professor Honjo is currently the Deputy Director-General and Distinguished Professor at the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study (KUIAS). His biography on the KUIAS website shows no evidence that he spent four years teaching in Wuhan or China We’ve seen no credible evidence that Covid-19 was man-made said Friday it has agreed to pay 5 billion yen ($44 million) to Japanese Nobel laureate in medicine Tasuku Honjo and donate 23 billion yen to a research fund at his university to settle a lawsuit on cancer drug patent royalties a distinguished professor at Kyoto University and 2018 Nobel Prize winner had sought about 26.2 billion yen in patent royalties from the company that sells the cancer treatment drug Opdivo developed based on discoveries by his research team "We were able to reach a settlement I feel satisfied with I would like to support fundamental research with the funds that we will get back from the company," Honjo said through his lawyer the company will pay royalties of 1 percent or less to Honjo as per their initial contract Ono Pharmaceutical President Gyo Sagara also welcomed the settlement which he said "fully resolved" issues between the company and Honjo Honjo said he signed a contract with Ono Pharmaceutical in 2006 outlining how revenue would be split between the two in 2011 the scientist sought to renegotiate the original deal's terms The complaint also says that in 2014 Ono Pharmaceutical's Sagara made a verbal proposal to pay Honjo 40 percent of patent royalties due from U.S if he cooperated on a patent lawsuit between the two companies Honjo agreed to help the Japanese drugmaker only paying 1 percent of the royalties after the two firms reached an out-of-court settlement The discovery of the protein PD-1 by Honjo and his team in 1992 later led to the development of the drug Opdivo that triggers the immune system to attack cancer cells Ono Pharmaceutical started selling it in 2014 and it is usually used to treat skin and lung cancer To have the latest news and stories delivered to your inbox Simply enter your email address below and an email will be sent through which to complete your subscription Please check your inbox for a confirmation email Thank you for reaching out to us.We will get back to you as soon as possible Throughout the early months of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic, we repeatedly came across variations of the claim that COVID-19 was manufactured at a laboratory in Wuhan, China. While dozens of medical experts have already debunked this idea (the evidence indicates that the virus evolved naturally) this bit of misinformation continued to spread on social media a lengthy text message started to circulate on Facebook and WhatsApp that supposedly included a quote from Nobel laureate Dr Tasuku Honjo in which he ostensibly said that COVID-19 was "invented" at a lab in Wuhan It’s as damning an indictment as it could be stretched to China is accused of inventing the Coronavirus in its Wuhan laboratory with whatever intent that might have prompted the venture who had shared a 2018 Nobel prize for his outstanding works in the study of immunology had revealed the reasons for blaming China for inventing the deadly virus that had already infected maimed and killed millions across the globe “I know the Chinese labs where the virus was perfected I called many times since the Wuhan breakout Doctors and technicians involved were killed.” “natural viruses are temperature and climate-sensitive it’s spreading would have been limited to Wuhan like places and climate.” Honjo threw a challenge in support of his finding and the assertions Honjo never worked at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the quotes in this post are fictitious, and China did not "invent" this virus. But in this message's defense, it does accurately state that Honjo won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2018 Honjo is currently the Deputy Director-General and Distinguished Professor at the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study. A biography on the KUIAS website lists the various institutes and academies Honjo has been associated with since the 1960s The Wuhan Institute of Virology is not included We searched for the quotes included in this viral text but could not find them reported by any credible sources. In fact, it appears that this quotation exists solely in social media posts. We did find a Twitter account using the handle @TasukuHonjo that expressed similar sentiments as the above-displayed quotes but it doesn't appear that this account actually belongs to the Nobel Prize winner It is also only a few days old (its first tweet was posted on April 23) and it has been used almost exclusively to push conspiratorial content regarding COVID-19 The Indian fact-checking website News Meter managed to contact one of Honjo's students who issued a statement on the Nobel Prize winner's behalf The statement confirmed that this Twitter account was fake Each and every sentence of this post is completely false and has no connection with truth He did not work on virus origin and functions and other related issues All the contents are just concocted and nothing else.. The twitter handle you mentioned does not belong to Prof it is created by someone possibly with malicious intentions Honjo's genuine public statements about the pandemic fly in the face of the quotes presented in this viral piece of text For instance, in an interview with the Nikkei Asian Review Honjo was asked why medical advancements have not been able to eradicate infectious diseases While the fake quote included in the above-displayed text falsely claimed Honjo said that "natural viruses" couldn't spread around the globe due to factors such as climate Honjo's genuine response to this question shows that he actually has the opposite view saying that "one novel virus can turn the world on its head" and that "infectious disease can spread quickly to a large number of patients." Medicine has evolved dramatically even compared with 20 years ago but every new virus requires a new response Physics and chemistry have established principles but biology is a science that's still developing So one novel virus can turn the world on its head Infectious diseases are completely different from something like cancer Infectious diseases can spread quickly to a large number of patients incidence and survival rates for cancer largely stay constant and expertise in the area is growing steadily Research into infectious diseases needs to go hand in hand with immunology There's no point in looking only at the virus and we need to know how people battling the virus respond to it Honjo published a statement saying that he was "greatly saddened" that his name Honjo wrote: I am greatly saddened that my name and that of Kyoto University have been used to spread false accusations and misinformation especially those of us devoting our careers to the forefronts of scientific research to work together to fight this common enemy We cannot delay one moment in this effort to save the lives of our fellow humans when all of our energies are needed to treat the ill the broadcasting of unsubstantiated claims regarding the origins of the disease is dangerously distracting This University devotes itself to furthering the wellbeing of humanity based on a principal of harmonious coexistence with the natural environment It is my enduring pleasure and honor to support this aim to my fullest Let us keep our eyes on the highest goals attainable by our species Honjo did not work at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, he did not say that COVID-19 was "invented" or "man-made," and the Twitter account posting similar claims does not belong to the Nobel Prize winner. In addition, this rumor is all based on the unfounded notion that COVID-19 was created as a bioweapon. You can read our examination of that false conspiracy theory here This material may not be reproduced without permission Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com Every time Tasuku Honjo is asked about the motivating force for his research The 76-year-old distinguished Kyoto University professor is the 2018 Nobel Prize Laureate in the category of Physiology and Medicine The award recognizes the breakthrough he achieved in helping develop “Opdivo,” a new cancer immunotherapy treatment medication he generally cites the “six Cs” as major factors that have guided his research: curiosity It can safely be said that these six Cs are the key to success The prestigious award ceremony was held on December 10 in the Swedish capital of Stockholm where he received an award diploma and medal for the Nobel Prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden Honjo attended dressed in traditional Japanese formal attire of a black haori coat bearing his family crest and hakama trousers Honjo said this represented his wish that his research had been “accomplished in Japan.” The 2018 ceremony marks the first in half a century that a Japanese Nobel Prize recipient has attended the award ceremony in traditional Japanese formal attire who was given the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968 there’s a way.” The four Japanese kanji characters meaning this axiom a Japanese traditional square card for writing a poem or motto and donated to the Nobel Museum in Stockholm by Dr “Those who have a steadfast and unbending will can undoubtedly attain their goal eventually.” The development of Opdivo can be said to represent the crystallization of such faith by Dr Meanwhile, in his Nobel Lecture delivered on December 7 “Luck has been always on my side in my academic life.” While noting he has been blessed with luck as a researcher his speech retained a humble attitude while expressing of a feeling of gratitude for his research colleagues It was the death of his classmate from scirrhous gastric cancer while they were students at Kyoto University that inspired Dr Honjo to enter the field of medical research He chose to focus on “cancer immunotherapy” for treating cancer patients on the basis of their own immune systems Devoting himself to research based on the belief “Cancer can surely be conquered,” he played a major role in developing Opdivo which is now expected to be a “fourth pillar of cancer treatment” next to surgery "Science cannot make progress without studies ambitious enough to overturn established theories.” Dr Honjo emphasized this point in his final lecture at Kyoto University’s Department of Medicine in 2005 The Nobelist also offered these words for young people aspiring to be scientists: “The more difficult a goal is to achieve the more attractive the task is for accomplishing the challenge Pick up a stone that everyone else has disregarded and polish it up until you find that it is a diamond I’ve found a lot of fun in pursuit of making a discovery in the face of a chaos of things the future of which you never know." “Exactly when you think that what’s written in a schoolbook is entirely correct you will be bound to cease to be a promising scientist,” said Dr offering an advice to young people who want to enter the sphere of science He further commented that one should always hold professional skepticism and hold on to a “sense of wonder.” Honjo is still leading his lab team in the capacity of “distinguished professor” at the state-run university Although the competition on the global stage is fierce he said: “We should refrain from engaging in a competition as if it were a 100-meter race When most people look toward a certain direction we instead should look toward another direction as opposed to that You should have your own way as a trailblazer.” “The life of a scientist is egoistic.” He has noted the importance of “continuing to think out what you believe thoroughly: Is it of essential significance The aim of helping make young researchers feel their scientific endeavors are worth spending their lives on continues to be greatly important to Dr It is said that he intends to donate money from his Nobel award cash prize to Kyoto University’s Honjo Yuhshi Foundation a fund which provides budding scientists with financial support (Click here and here to read the related articles in Japanese.) Author: Tomoaki Uyama reporting in Stockholm You must be logged in to post a comment ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is a horror visual novel developed and published by Square Enix that follows a group of people in Japan who become entangled in a centuries-old The curse is tied to local folklore and associated landmarks with each tale corresponding to a curse that can kill based on the legend it came from Those who use these curses to kill and gather enough soul dregs can perform the Ritual of Resurrection which is rumored to bring someone back from the dead as they either try to pursue the Right of Resurrection We see citizens from all walks of life as we try to gather the various curse stones and learn all about the history of Honjo and these characters’ ancestors the most important question is: Can you be gay there aren’t any dating mechanics in PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo There are a few couples — who are all straight — but you can’t romance any of the single characters as the point of this game is getting to the bottom of a deadly supernatural mystery rather than trying to find love or romance shippers may enjoy the friendship between high school girls Mio and Yakko While the pair aren’t an official couple and don’t flirt they’re a dynamic duo that could easily fit into a teen romance headcanon I hope they get a spin-off of their own to go on ghost-hunting adventures since Mio is a medium and Yakko has a weird resistance to ghosts Ty is a freelance games writer and esports expert Gayming Magazine reaches over 3.6 million people per month through our website Download the 2024 Gayming Intro Deck here To advertise, please contact advertising@grayjonesmedia.com  As Japan inches closer to an effective lockdown nationwide increasingly dominating the public conversation is what could be the best exit strategy in the fight against the novel coronavirus Three voices of authority shared their thoughts on the issue in a two-hour panel discussion on BS Fuji’s Prime News program on April 22: Honjo’s public statements since early April have stressed the need for testing in order to know the extent of the spread of this invisible enemy Japan has relied on the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test for this purpose Honjo said that about 45,000 tests a day were needed to be successful in the coronavirus battle Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he hoped that tests would rise to 10,000 a day in the passing weeks even this was not actualized Japan has carried out relatively few tests for the coronavirus compared to other countries. For most of March, the number of tests per day did not exceed a couple of thousand, and since the beginning of April the average has just climbed to 7,359. One reason seemed to be the logistical hurdle of going through the local health and medical care services system even if doctors asked for a patient to be tested in Tokyo the medical association has teamed up with private companies to set up testing facilities in more than 40 hospitals The JMA has also set up drive-through testing centers in Tokyo’s Edogawa ward each one expected to have a capacity of 100 tests per day that testing is not the only methodology that should be the focus of attention One concern is the imperfect reliability of tests particularly when it comes to false negatives He explained: “In a typical scientific approach You just consider it relevant if it’s positive I would like very much for people to understand that.” This is especially relevant to a news report on April 23 that said 6% out of 67 patients who had been admitted to Keio University Hospital in central Tokyo for health problems other than the coronavirus had tested positive for COVID-19 If hospital transmission is happening to this extent it’s reasonable to argue that the number of tests needs to increase to understand the extent of the contagion ー and avoid its further spread While the PCR testing will see if someone is a carrier of the coronavirus the need was also raised for testing to find out whether the antibody to fight the virus is present in a person’s blood The presence of antibodies would indicate to doctors that the person had contracted and fought off the virus in the recent past “In order to determine how much we should be fearing this virus people would feel reassured if it were known that the lethality rate is a lot lower than previously estimated and making that determination requires antibody testing The results could change the way we fight the virus and allow an exit strategy while doctors sharpen their focus on the grave cases and there are currently no nationally validated tests from Japan though: “In various universities they are already testing and I think on a national level they will come up with something effective very soon We want to start using them as soon as they do.” Currently there are several drugs which are being applied in trials for the treatment of the novel coronavirus. These include Avigan, the drug developed by Fujifilm which has been recommended for treatment in acute phases of the illness. (RELATED STORY: Takeda Pharmaceuticals Aims for New COVID-19 Therapy By End of 2020 at the Earliest) Other medical therapies cover a wide spectrum of health problems affecting the immune system drugs normally used in the treatment of HIV-AIDS and rheumatoid arthritis are thought to be helpful in some circumstances The members of the April 23 panel delineated what was necessary to fight the virus in terms of further investment in drugs research and trials Honjo made the case for focusing on current medical cures instead of spending money to develop a vaccine which might eat up resources He said: “I think that to fight infectious diseases prevention policies and testing are important So I think the most important thing is to decrease the number of deaths Just getting doctors to use these drugs remains an issue Honjo added: “Currently there are very strict conditions which hospitals apply to decide if a drug should be used and what data they are going to collect If they set up a system where you just need to say so in order to participate then [the use of these drugs] would spread a lot faster.” A key problem in all sectors is the structural problem of decision-making The government set up a panel of experts and advisors to help guide its policy on the response to COVID-19 A hint about the problem is provided by the fact that separate and apart from the government panel the JMA set up its own task force made up of 16 senior doctors who coordinate efforts with doctors in the field Senior LDP member Masahisa Sato shed some light on the situation by explaining that the expert panel includes no doctor who actually works on the ground People working on the front line probably want guidelines on which drug works best in which situation The LDP member shared some background information: “Dr Shigeru Omi (of the expert panel) asked the medical association what would be the best way to set up the medical system in Japan [to handle the coronavirus crisis] These strategically critical points are prerequisite to any exit strategy Councillor Sato also raised concerns that too much dependence on information from the government might put the objectivity and independence of the expert committee at risk all the experts agreed on the need for clear goals that define a concrete strategy for the government and public to envision exiting the emergency measures necessitated by the epidemic Honjo concluded: “In choosing the direction the fact that there are no experts in the field of medical cures is a real problem People are not even talking of an exit strategy now They are just looking at the number of people diagnosed [with the disease].” The hope is that with recognition will come improvements The public — and these experts — will be looking for clearly articulated plans to invest in testing and a practical exit strategy in the coming days (The Japanese article can be read on BS Fuji Prime News' Site here.)  You must be logged in to post a comment. Print Two scientists who first harnessed the power of the immune system to fight incurable cancers have won the 2018 Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology The discoveries made by American researcher James P Allison and Japan’s Tasuku Honjo have brought real hope of long-term survival to patients with a wide range of highly lethal cancers 2018An earlier version of this article said researcher James P Allison plays the guitar in a rock band called the Checkpoints In awarding the $1.01-million prize the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute hailed Allison’s and Honjo’s discoveries as “a landmark in our fight against cancer.” The two scientists worked in separate labs and focused on different mechanisms within the immune system. But they both showed how key players called T-cells dial back their attack on cancer — and how to restore those cells’ will to fight Their findings have led to the approval of six new treatments for 11 types of cancer they have opened a new front in the treatment of cancer oncologists have treated hundreds of thousands of cancer patients with these drugs “These are clearly drugs that have improved the lives of cancer patients — the quality and quantity of their lives,” said Dr. Otis Brawley the chief medical and scientific officer of the American Cancer Society the Nobel committee has signaled that immunotherapy “was not a fad,” added Brawley But he performed much of his early work at UC Berkeley He said Monday he did not set out to cure cancer All he really wanted was “to know how T-cells work.” “The dirty little secret of most scientists is the desire to know something that nobody else knows,” said Allison who said he learned of the Swedish Academy’s honor early Monday morning while attending a conference of cancer researchers in New York At his laboratory in Berkeley during the early 1990s Allison studied the T-cell protein called CTLA-4 Other scientists had already established that the protein acts as a brake on the action of T-cells ensuring that these immune system warriors do not attack healthy tissue Those researchers were exploiting its strength to treat auto-immune diseases Allison had a different idea for how those “brakes” could be used the immune system was being tricked into applying those brakes That gave malignant cells free rein to proliferate and spread Allison had designed an antibody that could home in on the CTLA-4 protein and prevent it from deploying its brakes he and his colleagues conceived a plan to use their “checkpoint inhibitor” on a mouse’s immune system as it responded to cancer the scientists watched in amazement as their antibody lifted the natural brake that kept the immune system from unleashing its fury on cancers Even mice with advanced cancers saw malignant cells disappear altogether and the success was repeated in multiple trials The pharmaceutical industry showed little interest in these initial findings Allison’s persistent efforts to apply this approach to humans could no longer be ignored Consider advanced melanoma, a diagnosis that for virtually all patients would lead to death within a year. One of Allison’s landmark clinical studies showed that close to half of those who received the treatment were still alive a year later In 2011, a CTLA-4 inhibitor called ipilimumab (marketed as the cancer drug Yervoy) was approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for metastatic melanoma “I was told many times that the immune system does not treat cancer,” said UCLA oncologist Antoni Ribas who referred several patients to these early studies and went on to conduct several trials of immunotherapy drugs ”Now everybody is convinced and wants to use these drugs.” Around the time that Allison was making early strides on his work in California, Tasuku Honjo was performing a series of elegant experiments on a related immune system mechanism in his lab at Kyoto University in Japan In 1992, Honjo had discovered PD-1 another protein expressed on the surface of T-cells His experiments were showing that like CTLA-4 When its function was disrupted in animal experiments the immune system went after cancer and kept doing so — often a key study demonstrated that targeting PD-1 was effective in the treatment of patients with several different types of cancer multiple immunotherapy drugs that block PD-1 have been approved by the FDA including pembrolizumab (marketed as Keytruda) and nivolumab (marketed as Opdivo) While their cost and their safety remain concerns — treatment can run hundreds of thousands of dollars and runaway immune system attacks can be life-threatening — they have transformed the treatment of cancers of the skin (()=>{const e=document.getElementById("yt-img-dCm-Gp2qoaM");e&&e.addEventListener("load",(t=>{t.target.naturalWidth<=120&&(e.parentNode.children[0].srcset=e.parentNode.children[1].srcset=e.src)}),{once:!0})})() Ribas called the Nobel committee’s recognition of Allison’s and Honjo’s work “overdue, but very exciting.” Today, there are patients who have survived for 18 years after a single round of immunotherapy, said Allison, who considers them cured. “Once you’ve got T-cells” empowered to fight a cancer, he said, “you’ve got that for the rest of your life.” But he also acknowledged that they have not changed cancer treatment for all. While fewer than half of patients with certain cancers respond to any one immunotherapy drug, he said he is hopeful that combinations of drugs can be used together for greater effect. One step likely to improve the effectiveness of checkpoint inhibitors is its use in conjunction with a new class of personalized immunotherapy drugs. In this approach, called CAR-T therapy, a patient’s own immune cells are removed from the body, trained to recognize and attack the patient’s own cancer, and returned to the body in vast numbers. Altogether, some 40 cancer immunotherapy drugs are under development, and they’re being tested in thousands of trials. Allison said scientists need to better understand “how these drugs work and how they might best be combined with other therapies to improve treatment and reduce unwanted side effects.” But his tinkering with T-cells has already paid dividends far greater than he ever could have guessed. It’s “a great emotional privilege to meet cancer patients who’ve been successfully treated” with immunotherapy, Allison said Monday. “They are living proof of the power of basic science.” 2:30 p.m.: This story has been updated throughout with staff reporting. This article was originally published at 2:40 a.m. Melissa Healy is a former health and science reporter with the Los Angeles Times who wrote from the Washington, D.C., area. She covered prescription drugs, obesity, nutrition and exercise, and neuroscience, mental health and human behavior. She was at The Times for more than 30 years, and has covered national security, environment, domestic social policy, Congress and the White House. World & Nation Science & Medicine 2018: An earlier version of this article said researcher James P Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map I texted my companions to let them know that I was already downstairs they were suitably puzzled—Honjo is actually on the first floor of a building on Queen’s Road West in Sheung Wan I was disoriented by the journey from street to restaurant via a small welcome area and sleek private elevator as it ejected me into a world entirely removed from the rest of Hong Kong—the spot-lit interiors drawn curtains and low wood panel ceilings mimicking a glamorous underground member’s club rather than a first floor restaurant you’ll get the impression that a lot of effort has been placed in the design and layout of the room—or rooms as there are distinctly different sections that are characterised by paraphernalia ranging from kendo armour to vintage paintings It’s not outwardly “Japanese” in the way that feels derivative no lapsing into tired tropes and iconography; the space has the old-time glamour of the Orient Express combined with the tasteful conservatism of the 1950s The premise of Honjo is modernised Japanese food combining traditional techniques with unexpected ingredients and flavours the team have curated two ‘greatest hits’ omakase offerings The Dreamer at HK$680 per person and The Traveller at HK$980 per person; both have optional wine and sake pairings The rest of the menu is divided into small We started with the (deboned) chicken wings that our friendly waitress strongly encouraged we order The generously proportioned wings were are battered fried and glazed with Okinawa black sugar and garlic for a sweet-and-salty crunch with sesame seeds and freshly sliced chilli (not outrageously hot) sprinkled on top these wings would go perfectly with either a pint of ice-cold beer or a flask of Honjo’s own-label junmai daiginjo sake Cocktails are recommended as well (and a bar located near the front of the restaurant is a comfortable waiting room if you arrive before your companions) with expected concoctions with names like Geisha Manhattan (Suntory the Chita whisky yuzu bitters) and Sakura Blossom (Honjo sake with the signature fruit tomato cloaked with Arbequina olive oil yuzu gelee and hojiso (shiso flowers) a small but satisfying dish to cleanse the palate The raw selection presents a range of ingredients served with punchy accoutrements crisp quinoa and chives to oysters topped with herbaceous shiso mignonette and ponzu jelly This section really is a showcase of very bold flavours rather than one that highlights the quality of the base ingredient The oiliness of hamachi works well with its trio of rocket butter white soy and yukari (a shiso furikake that is used to coat one side of the fish slices); Iberico pork swims in a punchy pool of soy tinged with Sichuan peppercorn oil and a ginger scallion salsa that brings to mind the flavour profiles of Cantonese steamed fish we also order the whole seabass that is presented at the table freed from its swaddle of thick its cavity stuffed with a zingy scallion pesto There’s a dish of “teriyaki” sauce served on the side but it’s too many flavours at once and we’re content with picking at the pearlescent meat swabbed with the pesto eating mouthfuls with the fresh mizuna leaves piled on the side the Boston lobster comes with wasabi aioli as well as a trio of salts for dipping The shellfish is obviously fresh and springy but it’s let down by the heavy coating that feels more akin to a golden fish and chip batter than the light airy exterior of masterfully executed Japanese tempura We’ll file this one under “needs improvement’ with kuromitsu cheesecake with pineapple cinnamon sorbet; cherry and umeboshi curd with vanilla ice cream; red bean almond cake with green tea ice cream; and “Too Much Chocolate” We’re bemused to see the old trick of presenting a chocolate sphere over which a hot caramel sauce is poured—an overdone cliché that should surely go the way of chocolate fondants—and the unfortunate part was that the sauce was not hot enough to melt away the top layer of chocolate the raspberry sorbet was the best part of the dessert the restaurant is buoyed by its front of house team who are accommodating and knowledgeable about the concept Despite being located further from the fringes of prime restaurant territory in Central the venue was packed midweek with tables of friends and couples looking like they’re having a grand old time Hidden from the realities of the world outside Honjo offers a throwback with its unique mix of vintage glamour and modern food and drink with just enough intrigue to make you consider returning for more A meal for two with one beverage and service: around HK$800 How we rateEach of our reviewers score restaurants based on four main criteria: setting taking into account more than 35 different points of reference including manners of staff and whether or not the restaurant makes an effort to be environmentally aware 5/5 indicates an exceptional experience; 4-4.5/5 is excellent; 3-3.5/5 is good to very good; and 2.5/5 or lower is average to below average the reviewers will book using a pseudonym and do not make themselves known to restaurant staff in order to experience the venue as a regular guest—if this is not possible