According to the Cabinet Office, Professor Kanai et al. Identified that the protein that reabsorbs sugar in the kidney is "SGLT2", and by suppressing the function of SGLT2, the excretion of sugar into the urine is promoted and the blood sugar level is lowered. I found out what to do.

　Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma has completed the SGLT2 inhibitor canagliflozin, which takes advantage of this effect, as a treatment for type 2 diabetes (* 1).The drug has been approved for manufacture and sale in the United States and Europe in 2013 and in Japan in 2014, and is sold in more than 80 countries around the world.

The other major award winners / organizations are as follows.
Minister of Health and Medical Strategy Award = Central Laboratory for Experimental Animals (Contribution to research and development in the medical field by developing cutting-edge experimental animals) ▽ Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award = Masatoshi Takeichi Team Leader (Discovery of protein cadherin) ▽ Welfare Labor Minister's Award = Olympus, Professor Kazuhiro Yasufuku, Toronto General Hospital attached to Toronto University (Practical use of pathological diagnostic equipment that combines ultrasonic endoscopy with suction biopsy) ▽ Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award = Metron, St. Luke's International University Professor Katsuyuki Miyasaka, Director of National Center for Child Health and Development Satoshi Nakagawa (Practical use of artificial respirator with less burden on newborns)

* 1 Type 2 diabetes Diabetes mellitus that develops due to an unhealthy lifestyle or overeating, and symptoms include weight loss and other urinary disorders of unknown cause.

reference:[Cabinet Office] About the XNUMXrd Japan Medical Research and Development Award (PDF)