The present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition for the regeneration of nerves comprising Vax protein as an active ingredient. Vax1 is secreted in the ventral hypothalamus (vHT) explant separated from a mouse. The secreted Vax1 combines with extracellular sugar group of heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) existing in retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axon of the retinal explant co-cultured so as for the complex invades into axonplasm. Then, the Vax1 conjugated with the sugar group activates the local protein synthesis to accelerate the growth of retinal ganglion cell axon. In some embodiments, Vax protein or a nucleic acid encoding the protein, can be used in a pharmaceutical composition for the regeneration of nerves.