Abstract
AMED, established on April 1 2015, has been tackling to promote medical R&D and improve the environment for such R&D and implement subsidy activities based on “the Plan for Promotion of Medical R&D” for the purpose of integrated promotion of medical R&D from basic research to practical application, smooth application of outcomes, and improvement of the environment for medical R&D in a comprehensive and effective manner. AMED consolidates budgets for research expenses from three different Ministries, which enables to provide a one-stop service for research expenses. In other words, the unification of contact points and procedures for research expenses can be expected to reduce the administrative burden on institutions and researchers. AMED is also expected to carry out the following functions. 1) Implementation of R&D in healthcare area through AMED’s new program management system, 2) Improvement of the infrastructure for clinical researches, etc, 3) Support toward industrialization, 4) Promotion of global strategies. This article briefly summarizes the AMED’s activities so far, especially focused on the “Project for Japan Translational Research and Clinical Research and Trial Core Centers”, one of nine collaboration area projects, and new public private partnership activity, and also discusses the importance of “Regulatory Sciences of Medical Products” in order to achieve the AMED’s mission.
