日本の薬系大学における「ドライラボ」の過去・現在と今後の課題

抄録

The term dry laboratory in this paper refers to non-experimental pharmaceuticallaboratories and researchers in the field of social and clinical pharmaceutical sciences. Given that Iyaku bungyo (i.e., separation of drug prescribing and dispensing) could not be achieved during the Meiji era, Japanese pharmaceutical sciences, which were alienated from medical care, came to develop independently, with experimental sciences (eg., organic chemistry) forming their base. This gave rise to the notion that non-experimental pharmaceutical sciences were not legitimate. The history of dry laboratories in Japan can be reformulated as the history of interactions between pharmaceutical sciences and society. The origins of the dry laboratory can be tracecl to the Tokyo Imperial University's Department of Hygienic and Forensic Chemistry (established in 1893). While hygienic pharmaceutical sciences are mainly comprised of experimental sciencesin Japan, they also dealt with issues related to social living, and include non-experimental components. The uncertain status of the drylaboratory continued for many years until the advent of Iyaku bungyo. The Department of Administrative Pharmacy of the School of Pharmacy at Nihon University has a history extending over 50 years, beginning with the establishment of the Department of Business Administration in 1956, the year that the Iyaku bungyo Law was enacted. As substantial separation of drug prescribing and dispensing activities began in 1974 and as efforts related to clinical and social pharmaceutical sciences became necessary, the number of dry laboratories began to rise. Although scarce, dry laboratories have gradualy increased due to developments in the current century, such as advances in regulatory science, the implementation of six-year pharmacist education programs in 2006, as well as the initiation of four-year graduate school programs to accept these graduate in 2012. The websites of pharmaceutical schools were used to ascertain the current status of dry laboratories. The founding of the Japanese Society for History of Pharmacy in 1954 marked the beginning of dry laboratories as a discipline (as organizations and research groups) that extends beyond the framework of the school setting. More than ten such organizations currently exist. Although lateral communication among these organizations is limited, the time has clearly come for the development of a communications network to bring them together for further advances not only in social pharmaceutical sciences, but pharmaceutical sciences in general. Pharmaceutical sciences can be roughly divided into basic, clinical and social pharmaceutical sciences, and in this order their field of focus broadens. Further improvements of dry laboratories are a desirable way to solidify the position of pharmaceutical science.