It is our greatest honor t o inform the readers of regenerative Therapy that Prof. Takao Hayakawa of Kinki University received 4th William S Hancock award in regulatory science. This annual award recognizes outstanding and sustained contributions in the field of regulatory science. He developed his lifetime career in biotechnology and biologics in the National Institute of Health Sciences (NIHS) of Japan, serving as Division Director of Biological Chemistry and Biologicals (1991–2002), Deputy Director General of the NIHS (2002–2005) and an Emeritus investigator from 2005 on. He was also a senior advisor of Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Agency, PMDA (2005–2010) and still works for the PMDA as an ad hoc advisor. He is the author or coauthor of over 550 publications in biochemistry, biotechnology, cell biology and the pharmaceutical sciences. He is the first and only one non-American awardee of the award.
Dr. Hayakawa has been involved in more than 80 kinds of activities relative to public health and is still in about 40 under various Ministries of Japan including Ministry of Health, labour and Welfare (MHLW), Cabinet Office of Japan, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). He chaired a number of committees like Committee of Japanese Pharmacopoeia (2003–2011), Committee on Biotechnology Products (2003–2011) of the MHLW's Council, and has been chairing Expert Committee on Genetically Modified Foods (2003–2007) and followed by the Planning Expert Committee of the Food Safety Commission of Japan. He also chaired the Japanese Biologics Forum (2005–2011). One of his current activities is to develop draft guidance on ensuring quality and safety of stem cell derived products for therapeutic use. Characterization and utilization of pluripotent stem cells for medical and pharmaceutical researches are the subjects of his special interest.
Congratulation! and we are proud of him.
I declare that Masayuki Yamato is a shareholder of CellSeed Inc.
Footnotes
Peer review under responsibility of the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine.