We are Mirai Genomics

Yoshihide Hayashizaki
Founder of Mirai Genomics

Today, healthcare professionals face the delicate challenge of making accurate diagnoses daily. However, the tools currently available to them are far from perfect. Medical practitioners often find themselves having to compromise between performance and convenience.

The new coronavirus infection, which originated in Wuhan, China, has caused a global pandemic, and many people have lost their lives. The world has changed, and society’s needs are changing rapidly. The whole world is unprecedented, and our lifestyle has been revolutionized. Many socioeconomic activities have become remote, and economic activities are dramatically changing due to restrictions on people's movements and activities. Even if the current restrictions become more relaxed and end, it is unlikely that our lifestyle of working remotely and maintaining social distance as much as possible will return to the same as it was before. In addition, the fight against infectious diseases is also a fight against evolution due to the mutation of pathogens. As seen in the new coronavirus, a mutation increases the infectivity of pathogens and gains characteristics to avoid neutralizing antibodies (ineffectiveness of vaccines), and in 2050, it is predicted that AMR (Antimicrobial Resistance) will be the top cause of death, surpassing cancer.

In terms of cancer treatment, advances in genomic medicine have led to the rapid development of precision medicine that selects and treats the most appropriate anti-cancer drugs and has achieved remarkable results in the treatment of cancer. The drug-resistant cancer will be our next challenge. For both infectious diseases and cancer, we have to catch up with the changes in pathogens and cancer cells and develop new diagnoses and treatments.

At the end of January 2020, when a large cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, arrived at Yokohama Port with infected passengers, the situation turned into a battlefield, and Governor Kuroiwa of Kanagawa Prefecture made an urgent request for our company to immediately create a diagnostic kit. Even at this time, to respond to the sudden emergence of a large social need, we completed the kit within two weeks and began manufacturing and supplying it.

The necessity and urgency of social needs are changing drastically due to these unexpected changes in society and the global environment, and we believe that it is our mission to respond to these changes in a timely manner. With the spirit of Never Give Up, we will do our best to meet the needs of society.