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On October 1, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a congratulatory call to Distinguished Professor Tasuku Honjo, Director-General of the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study (KUIAS), who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
 
In his congratulatory telephone call, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Professor Honjo, I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations. I feel very proud as a fellow Japanese citizen. Your research gives hope and light to many patients suffering from cancer. Some of the people I owe a great deal to were also saved by OPDIVO, the medicine that was an outcome of your research. I am truly grateful for your work.  
 
I was told that you went to great lengths to carry out your research, even making equipment on your own.”
 
“During the first Abe administration, you gave us wonderful proposals and recommendations as an Executive Member of the Council for Science and Technology Policy. I believe that these proposals and recommendations are being applied and utilized in various ways. Thank you so much. I have great hopes for you to enjoy even further success in the future. Once again, my sincere congratulations.”