An unlikely interest in medicine

Fixing the eyes of patients who are going blind and the knees of those about to lose their ability to walk. Both are goals of two venerable Japanese firms, Fujifilm and Hitachi Chemical, which hope to turn regenerative medicine into a viable, mass-market business. Meanwhile, Japanese petrochemical maker Mitsui Chemicals aims to become a global player in materials for dental care. And JSR, a company formerly known as Japan Synthetic Rubber, wants to build a major business around supplying materials to manufacturers of biologic drugs. For JSR, the life sciences are another step away from its original, and still thriving, synthetic rubber business. In the past 25 years, the company has expanded into chemicals for the electronic industry. Materials for biologic drugs might seem an implausible step beyond, but JSR managers believe otherwise. “We’re targeting custom manufacturers of biological drugs,” says Eric Johnson, U.S.-based head of JSR’s newly formed life