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Study Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in TOYAMA, the "KUSURI" City

From Tradition to the Future!

Inheriting a Tradition of Medicine

The history of "Toyama, the KUSURI city" dates back more than 300 years. This history began, as the story goes, when the second lord of the Toyama Domain, Maeda Masatoshi, administered the digestive medicine "Hangontan" to the lord of Fukushima, who was suffering from a stomachache at Edo Castle; the efficacy of the medicine amazed the many other lords who were there. Even today, "Hangontan" is still manufactured in Toyama, and available at pharmacies and other places. Toyama’s medicine is so famous nationwide that JR Toyama Station features statues of traveling medicine peddlers from those days (photo). Kyoritsu Toyama Pharmaceutical School (the predecessor to the University of Toyama School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences was established in 1893, with funds granted by parties involved in the pharmaceutical business. After that, the school was reorganized as Toyama Municipal Pharmaceutical School; Toyama Prefectural Vocational School for Pharmacy; Toyama National Vocational School for Pharmacy; the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toyama University; the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toyama Medical and Pharmaceutical University; etc. — even if the organization has changed a number of times, the spirit of service, with a focus on people’s health and the spirit of inquiry for creating better medicines, both inherent to Toyama’s medicine sellers, continue to be handed down from generation to generation.

World-Class Outcomes from Toyama, a Center of Medicines

Toyama Prefecture today is home to many unique pharmaceutical companies. According to the Dynamic Statistics of the Pharmaceutical Industry Production, prepared by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Toyama Prefecture produced 732.5 billion yen and 621.8 billion yen worth of medicines in 2015 and 2016 respectively, earning the prefecture first place nationwide for two years in a row. With this background, the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama has been gaining support from many businesses within the prefecture in terms of both research and education. The Forum Toyama Soyaku was launched in 2000, offering a place for the University of Toyama, pharmaceutical companies, the Health and Welfare Department of the prefectural government, the Toyama Pharmaceutical Association, and other relevant organizations to work together, with the aim of revitalizing Toyama Prefecture and developing new prophylactic and therapeutic medicines. This collaboration between industry, academia, and government has helped the prefecture establish itself as a center of medicines, as well as sharing with the world the outcomes of cutting-edge research that has led to the development of new medicines and treatment technologies. The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama continues sharing these wide-ranging outcomes in various fields, including chemistry, biology, physics, pharmaceutics and pharmacology, and medical treatment, through scientific papers and presentations at conferences.

Fostering Future
Pharmaceutical Professionals (Yakushi)

The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in our university consists of two departments: the Department of Pharmacy (six-year course), to cultivate pharmacists, and the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences (four-year course) to cultivate specialist researchers and technologists. Both departments aim to produce human resources who work to become pharmaceutical professionals (Yakushi), through encouraging the students to develop the Toyama-style approach to research. In hopes that our strong desires to provide new medicines for people suffering from diseases, and to alleviate the pain of those suffering from diseases, will take form as leaf buds, and that we can contribute to all people living under the sky in the world, we steadily continue our research every day (photo). With an environment ideal for learning about medicine, the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences continues to support each and every pharmacy student, so that they can become Yakushi who play leading roles in the future of medical services. We look forward to studying with you and bringing our dreams to life!