For Yasuo Urata, the president and CEO of Oncolys BioPharma, the health ministry’s approval earlier this month of Telomelysin — the world’s first virus-based treatment drug for esophageal cancer — marks the culmination of its decadeslong effort aimed at sparing patients some of the toll of conventional cancer treatment.On June 8, the health ministry granted full manufacturing and marketing approval for Telomelysin, a viral therapy for esophageal cancer patients who cannot undergo surgery or receive chemoradiotherapy.“We want to bring out treatments that improve quality of life for patients,” Urata, 70, said in an interview. “Anticancer drugs are essentially poison. I wanted to put an end to a world where the body and cancer are both fighting to survive.”