The Ministry of International Trade and Industry has launched a consortium to study the application of the decoded genetic makeup of humans to medical treatment.
The consortium, which is largely made up of 75 pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other high-technology companies, will begin studies at a research center to be established in Tokyo next April, MITI officials said.
The center will be staffed by more than 100 researchers from the 75 member companies, as well as private and public research institutes.
Masahiko Furukawa, an adviser to Mitsubishi Chemical Corp., serves as chairman of the consortium, while Masayoshi Kyogoku, a professor emeritus at Osaka University, will head the center.
In June, an international group of researchers completed sequencing and assembling the genetic code -- a rough draft of the human blueprint -- after 10 years of work.
The breakthrough is seen as a great leap forward toward the development of new treatments for some of the most devastating human diseases, such as cancer.