Tatsuya Kondo, architect of Japan’s PMDA, dead at 79

Tatsuya Kondo, the neurosurgeon who would go on to transform the regulation of drugs in Japan, passed away on Sept. 26. He was 79.

Kondo took the reins of Japan’s Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency in 2008 as the country’s four-year-old biopharma regulatory agency faced overlong review times, a lack of trust with the public and a severely understaffed team...