
OSAKA -- As nations scramble to develop vaccines for the coronavirus, Takara Bio is at the forefront of Japan's efforts, tapping its four decades of gene-editing experience to help develop a DNA-based approach that has never been used in humans before.
The pharmaceutical maker is in a unique position during the pandemic: It is not only Asia's largest supplier of the reagents used in testing for the virus, but also is in the forefront of developing a DNA vaccine that could be put into mass production quickly to meet demand.