In recent years, universities have been expected to play an important role in drug development; however, they cannot manufacture and sell products as a business. This is owing to a view of the Ministry of Legal Affairs expressed in 1950 that denied pharmaceutical manufacturing as a business by government agencies, including national universities. The problem stemmed from pharmaceutical manufacturing by the Institute for Infectious Diseases at the University of Tokyo; it was stipulated in the Regulations of the Institute for Infectious Diseases, but was removed from the institute’s jurisdiction in 1947. First, to clarify the background of the problem, old documents of the institute describing the negotiation process with the Ministry of Health and Welfare were examined. Based on these documents, the Ministry of Legal Affairs’ view was interpreted, and the premise was argued to be different between the present national university corporations and government agencies of the postwar period. Next, by analyzing the institute’s accounting slips, it was revealed that the pharmaceutical marketing and manufacturing business by the institute had transformed in the transfer of test manufactured products to the private sector, and research was separated from the business and incorporated into the research system of the university.