Annual Report 2021

Preface

 In fiscal 2021, the spread of COVID-19 has affected the usual medical care of medical institutions nationwide. At the request of Chiba Prefecture, the NCCHE also accepted corona infection-positive patients as a part of the palliative care ward as a corona dedicated ward at the time of the sixth wave (February - March 2022), while the activity of hospital services has generally been higher than the previous year. In fiscal 2021, there were 11,929 new referrals including second opinions, an average of 404.2 inpatients and 1,328.2 outpatients per day, a bed occupancy rate of 103.6%, 4,344 surgeries performed during the year, and a daily average of 210 outpatient ambulatory center visits. All these records are the highest ever. Robot-assisted surgery has also been performed in many clinical departments, especially urology, and has seen a significant increase to 467 cases. On the other hand, due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, the number of patients from overseas decreased in proton beam therapy. In FY2021, the NCCHE launched bone and soft tissue oncology and radiation brachytherapy, mainly for gynecological tumors. We promoted telemedicine collaboration with Tsuruoka City Shonai Hospital in Yamagata Prefecture, which started in FY2020, for each field, and built an online sharing system for endoscopic surgery images at the hospital to develop a foundation for remote surgery support. In addition, in FY2021, the staff in the administrative department of the Kashiwa Campus was increased and reorganized, which resulted in significant operational improvements in various fields of medical care and research.

 In terms of research, we have newly established a Data Science Department and established ARCAD-Asia to integrate individual patient data from large-scale randomized trials. It has integrated global data, including all examples of Western data, and has begun to utilize various data. In addition, in collaboration with domestic venture capital companies, the NCCHE launched a "Venture Development Program" for start-up companies inside and outside the center, and in fiscal 2021, we selected six companies to support regulatory affairs, exit strategies, and fundraising. In addition, we have signed a comprehensive partnership agreement with the Japan Trade Promotion Organization (JETRO) and are working together with the EPOC to jointly develop overseas seeds. The NCCHE has built many large-scale platforms for various clinical development and TR research projects to promote the development of internationally competitive pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The Nationwide Cancer Genome Screening Project (SCRUM-Japan) has grown into the world's largest project of its kind, with more than 30,000 cases of clinical genomic data including liquid biopsy by the end of fiscal 2021. This has led to the discovery of a new lung cancer driver gene (Nature 2021) and the world's first regulatory approval through an investigator-initiated clinical trial for HER2 positive colorectal cancer (Nature Med 2021). Furthermore, in FY2021, we have started drug discovery and clinical development research using cutting-edge multi-omics analysis (WES/WTS+multiplex IHC). Based on these achievements, at the invitation of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC-ARGO), the NCCHE has started to build a clinical and multi-omics database on a global level with a target of 100,000 cases, aiming to build a global drug discovery infrastructure. In addition, we are building a large-scale platform (CIRCULATE-Japan) for the detection of micro-residual tumors (MRDs) by liquid biopsy to develop perioperative personalized therapies. More than 4,000 patients have already been accrued and it is expected to create impactful evidence that will change actual medical care. All staff will continue to work together in terms of medical treatment and research to create and provide better cancer care.

Atsushi Ohtsu

Director

National Cancer Center Hospital East (NCCHE)