Drama adaptation of a medical novel depicting the light and shadow of the pharmaceutical industry, starring Satoshi Mukai! Co-starring Jun Kaname, Ryoki Masumoto (Aぇ! group), and Kosuke Toyohara!
Is an MR (Medical Representative) there to save patients’ lives,
or to maximize the profits of pharmaceutical companies――?
A medical-business suspense drama that sharply confronts the essence of medicine and the realities of the pharmaceutical industry!
Is it medicine for life, or medicine for profit――
A new “socially conscious medical drama” depicting the hidden side of the medical field and the pharmaceutical industry, as well as the struggles of those who face life head-on

“Serial Drama W: MR – Medical Representative –” adapts the novel by Yoko Kusakabe, a celebrated medical mystery writer who is also active as a novelist and physician. Centering on an MR (= Medical Representative), essentially a sales representative for a pharmaceutical company who visits doctors, pharmacists, and other medical professionals to provide and gather information on prescription drugs and promote their proper use, this new “medical drama” portrays the hidden side of the medical field and the pharmaceutical industry, along with the struggles of those who confront life and death.

Japan’s pharmaceutical industry is worth roughly 10 trillion yen. Bringing a single new drug to market takes 10 to 15 years and hundreds of billions of yen in research and development costs, yet the odds of actually reaching the sales stage are about 1 in 25,000. Pharmaceutical companies continue their research every day in order to break through this narrow gate. This drama offers a glimpse into the reality of the medical world, where many organizations and people are involved around a single drug—pharmaceutical companies, university hospitals, doctors, academic societies, guideline selection, and more—and powerfully depicts the convictions of those engaged in the “work of handling lives,” as well as their conflicts between sales competition and medical ethics. While drawing on the original work’s brisk human drama, the series also incorporates pharmaceutical supervision to reflect the industry as it is today, and weaves in issues surrounding modern medicine. As a drama about the familiar subject of “medicine” for everyone, not just medical professionals, it delivers deep empathy and thought-provoking questions to a wide audience.

WOWOW’s screen adaptations of Kusakabe’s works, which have also drawn attention with the film Haibyōshin, are now in their third installment, following the shocking suspense Drama W: The Third Mist ~Throw the First Stone~ (2009), which exposed the dark side of modern medicine through the theme of medical error, and Serial Drama W: God’s Hand (2019), which tackled head-on the major social issue of whether euthanasia should be permitted in end-of-life care. Praised highly for the realism that comes from the author’s extensive experience as a physician and for its weighty themes centered on life and death, the works have won the support of many readers. The script is written by Takashi Kohsaka, known for Hayabusa Fire Brigade (2023) and Angel Flight: The International Repatriation of the Dead (2023), while direction is handled by the talented Hiroshi Kanai, who makes his first directorial effort on a WOWOW drama following Scandal Eve (2025) and Caster (2025), and with his film The Gate of Murder soon to be released.

The lead role is played by Satoshi Mukai, who portrays Masaki Kionaka, an MR at Tenho Pharmaceutical who, torn between patients, doctors, and the pharmaceutical company, tries to uphold his own belief in “patient first.” Co-starring are Jun Kaname as Atsushi Samejima, Kionaka’s former colleague who now works for the foreign rival company Taurus and is an MR who pursues profit without compromise; Ryoki Masumoto (Aぇ! group), making his first appearance in a WOWOW drama, as Kazumi Ichihashi, a rookie MR at Tenho Pharmaceutical who admires Kionaka as the ideal MR; and Kosuke Toyohara as Kazuhiko Isogawa, a former MR and now an executive officer and head of sales at Tenho Pharmaceutical, who was once Kionaka’s direct superior. Also appearing are Yoshi Sakou, Satoru Matsuo, and Takeshi Masu as doctors with whom Kionaka becomes involved; Makiko Watanabe as an executive director at Tenho Pharmaceutical; Rena Takeda, Junya Kawashima, and Yasuomi Sano as members of the sales office MR team; and Mirai Morita and Yoshihiro Nozoe as patients and family members whom Kionaka becomes indirectly involved with. Be sure to look out for this colorful cast of accomplished actors.

“Patient-first MRs” vs. “business-first MRs” vs. “pharmaceutical company executives protecting the company” vs. “medical professionals flocking to profit” … This work depicts the various positions and conflicts of people fighting over “profit” in the hidden world of the medical industry. Through the lives of people torn between the ideals of medicine and the realities of business, this weighty socially conscious human drama comes close to the essence of “life” and “medicine,” relentlessly confronting viewers with a reality that is “by no means someone else’s problem.” （https://www.wowow.co.jp/drama/original/mr/）