With the task of unscrambling the human genome complete, Japanese pharmaceutical companies are trying to produce new medicines to fight diseases for which effective drugs don't yet exist.
They are striving to create drugs that can be tailor-made to an individual's genetic makeup, with the intention of making them more effective and safe.
While major U.S. and European drug makers are spending vast sums to research the relationship between genes and disease, Japanese drug makers are narrowing their research methods and zeroing in on specific diseases.