Nikkei Forum: Incubating Innovation in the Life Science Ecosystem

Atsushi Nagahisa

President, DNA Partners LLC

He has over 35 years of experience in drug discovery, development and management. Nagahisa was previously Vice President of Pfizer Global Research and Development, Director of Pfizer Nagoya Laboratories, and Senior Vice President for R&D of Pfizer Japan. He raised $111 million to found RaQualia, Inc. in 2008, Pfizer’s first organic spinoff. He was President and CEO of RaQualia from its formation to 2012 and led its successful IPO in 2011 on the JASDAQ. Nagahisa headed laboratories in Pfizer that discovered Cerenia and Galliprant. He has authored or co-authored more than 50 publications in scientific journals. In 2011, Pharmaceutical Executive named him one of the 30 most impactful individuals in the biopharmaceutical sector over the 30-year history of the magazine.

Christine Brennan

Managing Director, Vertex Ventures HC

Christine has over 15 years in the life-science industry including business development, corporate strategy, and venture investing. She is currently Managing Director at Vertex Ventures HC (VVHC) where she is board director for Boundless Bio and Redona Therapeutics as well as board observer for Epirium Bio and Matchpoint Therapeutics. Prior to VVHC, she was a Partner at MRL Ventures Fund from 2017-2021 where she was on the boards of Alector, Inc. [NASDAQ:ALEC], Entrada Therapeutics [NASDAQ:TRDA], Tallac Therapeutics, and Therini Bio. She was also an observer on the boards of Adagio [NASDAQ:ADGI], LifeMine Therapeutics, PAQ Therapeutics and Translate Bio [NASDAQ:TBIO]. Prior to MRL Ventures Fund, she was Principal at the Novartis Venture Fund from 2013-2017 where she was on the board of Altimmune [NASDAQ:ALT] and an observer on the boards of a number of companies including ROX Medical, lnnocrin Pharmaceuticals, Viamet Pharmaceuticals and Quartet Medicine. Prior to Novartis Venture Fund, she was Chief Business Officer at Vitae Pharmaceuticals from 2010-2013. She also held positions in business development and marketing at small and mid-size biopharmaceutical companies. Christine received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Dartmouth Medical School and was post-doctoral fellow in developmental neurobiology at the National Institutes of Health.

Gaurav Gupta

Co-Managing Partner, J.P. Morgan Private Capital
M.D., M.S.E.

Gaurav Gupta, M.D., is Co-Managing Partner of Life Science Private Capital (“LSPC”) within J.P. Morgan Private Capital, a division of J.P. Morgan Global Alternatives in J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
 
Gaurav joined J.P. Morgan Private Capital in 2022. Alongside Anya Schiess, Gaurav is co-managing partner of the LSPC platform, which leverages the global scale, robust healthcare service ecosystem and healthcare data intelligence of J.P. Morgan to invest in life sciences and healthcare companies.

Prior to joining LSPC, Gaurav was previously the founder of Ascendant BioCapital, and a member of the venture capital team at OrbiMed Advisors, where he was actively involved in numerous investments in private and public biotechnology companies. Prior to joining OrbiMed, Gaurav served as a resident in neurological surgery at Columbia University Medical Center, where he also completed post-doctoral research at the Institute for Cancer Genomics. He has co-authored over a dozen articles in peer-reviewed journals, been awarded patents on a novel therapeutic for the prevention of atherogenesis and a device for use in spine surgery, and edited a book on the technical and ethical implications of using tissue engineered products in the operating room.

Gaurav obtained his M.D. from the Stanford University School of Medicine where he was a recipient of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship, and B.S. and M.S. in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University, where he was a Charles R. Westgate Scholar. Gaurav is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Hiroki Ashida

Vice President, Eight Roads Ventures

Hiroki Ashida is a Vice President at Eight Roads Ventures, a global venture capital firm backed by Fidelity. Hiroki joined Eight Roads in 2017 and helped build the life science practice in Japan. He collaborates closely with their sister fund F-Prime Capital Partners in US and other Eight Roads global teams around the world to invests both domestically and globally, leveraging the science and technologies from Japan. Prior to joining Eight Roads he worked as a management consultant at Accenture Strategy. He received PhD in genetics and epigenetics from University of Tokyo. Hiroki envisions to become a bridge between global and Japanese market.

Johannes Fruehauf

Co-Founder of LabCentral, General Partner of Mission BioCapital

With his background as a physician working in diverse health systems, coupled with 20+ years as a serial biotech entrepreneur, Dr. Fruehauf has dedicated much of his professional endeavors to supporting life science entrepreneurs and start-up companies. Dr. Fruehauf is currently General Partner and co-founder of Mission BioCapital (MBC). In his role at MBC, Johannes sources, diligences, and leads new life-science investment transactions and represents the fund on the board of a number of MBC portfolio companies.

He is also the Founder and President of LabCentral and BioLabs, the largest provider of laboratory co-working space for startups nationwide, currently serving over 385+ startups in 15 cities. Over the past three years, the companies started within this network secured over 25% of all Seed and Series A venture capital invested in life sciences in the US. LabCentral and BioLabs were also the recipient of the prestigious Prix Galien Award in 2022 for the best biotech startup launchpads in the “Incubators, Accelerators and Equity” category.

Johannes studied medicine in Germany and France, while also conducting field work in Africa (Zimbabwe and Guinea). Thereafter, he practiced medicine (internal medicine and OB/Gyn) for several years in Germany before coming to Boston for a post-doc at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School. Johannes graduated from University of Frankfurt and received his doctorate from the University of Heidelberg. He is also the author of over 30 peer reviewed publications and is named inventor on 9 issued patents on drug delivery and RNAi-based therapeutics.

John Stanford

Executive Director, Incubate Coalition

John Stanford is the Executive Director of Incubate, a coalition of venture capital organizations who represent the patient, investment, and corporate communities. In this role he is responsible for communicating priorities that encourage life science innovators to grow in the US, and strengthening intellectual property provisions in the US and globally. John has been recognized in the Congressional Record and in state legislatures for his advocacy and communication efforts. He comments regularly on health and policy issues, most recently in the Wall Street Journal, STAT, CNBC, the Washington Post and the International Business Times. John is also the host of the new Making Medicine podcast, which features leading investors, biotech CEOs and policymakers to discuss the early-stage ecosystem. He most recently presented at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference 2023, speaking on multiple panels about the state of drug pricing policy and the IRA. John is a Denver, CO native, and graduated from the College of William & Mary with a B.A. in Government and has an M. Ed. In Secondary Education from Arizona State University.

Keiichi Murayama

Commentator, Nikkei Inc.

Keiichi Murayama formerly served as the U.S. Silicon Valley bureau chief of Nikkei Inc., and was a senior staff writer and an editorial writer of Nikkei. After earning his undergraduate degree at Tohoku University in 1992, he joined the Business News Department of Nikkei in Tokyo as a staff writer. He covered technology, medical, automotive, and financial news. After he joined the Program on US-Japan Relations at Harvard University, he went on to oversee the U.S. Silicon Valley Bureau for a few years.

He has authored numerous publications including "Rise and Fall of the IT Empire - Steve Jobs Revolution" and "STARTUP - The Reality of Entrepreneurs".

Michal Silverberg

Managing Director, Novartis Venture Fund

Michal Silverberg is a Managing Director at the Novartis Venture Fund in Cambridge, MA, USA. Prior to joining NVF, she was a Senior Partner at Takeda Ventures and, before that, worked at Novo Nordisk in roles of increasing responsibility including as Senior Director Business Development and New Product Commercialization, serving as a member of the BioPharm leadership team. Since 1998, Michal has held positions in various sectors of the life science industry including in the Office of the Chief Scientist of Israel (The Incubator program), venture capital (Ofer Brothers Hi Tech) and global pharmaceutical and biotech companies, including various positions at MGVS, an Israeli biotech company and at OSI Pharmaceuticals in a business development role. She received her B.A. in Economics and Business Management from Haifa University, her M.B.A from Tel-Aviv University in Israel and her Master's degree in Biotechnology from Columbia University in New York.

Osamu Nagayama

Honorary Chairman, Chugai Pharmaceutical

1971 Graduated Faculty of Business and Commerce, Keio University, Tokyo
Joined The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan
1975 London Branch, The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan
1978 Joined Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
1985 Director, Deputy General Manager of Development Planning Division
1987 Director, Senior Vice President
1989 Representative Director, Deputy President
1992 Representative Director, President and CEO
2012 Representative Director, Chairman and CEO
2018 Representative Director, Chairman
2020 Senior Advisor, Honorary Chairman
2022 Honorary Chairman
【Others】
1998 President of Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (to 2004)
1998 Director of Nippon Research Center, Ltd. (to 2021)
2000 Deputy President of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufactures’
Associations of Japan (to 2004)
2006 Member of Roche Enlarged Corporate Executive Committee (to 2018)
2006 President of The Tokyo Biochemical Research Foundation (now Chugai Foundation for Innovative Drug Discovery Science) (to 2023)
2009 President of Japan Bioindustry Association
2010 Member of the Board of Directors of Sony Corporation (now Sony Group Corporation) (to 2019)
2013 Chairman of the Board of Sony Corporation (now Sony Group Corporation) (to 2019)
2019 Chair of The Cabinet Secretariat Office's Bio Strategy Expert Panel
2020 Chairman of the Board of Toshiba Corporation (to 2021)

Sascha Berger

Partner, TVM Capital

Dr. Sascha Berger is a Partner at TVM Capital, based in Munich, Germany. TVM Capital is one of the transatlantic Life Science Venture Capital pioneers, investing with teams in Europe and North America. Sascha joined TVM Capital in 2016, helped to raise the current $480M fund, and works closely with entrepreneurs and founders to advance promising pharmaceutical assets, medtech, diagnostic, and digital health technologies to the next value inflection points. Sascha is a passionate VC, a Boston Consulting Group alumnus, and has an academic background in chemistry and finance.

Tomoyoshi Koyanagi

Program-Specific Professor, Director of Business Development Office, Institute for Advancement of Clinical and Translational Science (iACT), Kyoto University Hospital

Dr. Koyanagi is a business development professional with hands-on experience in supporting startups in the medical field. At Kyoto University, he has worked on industry-university collaborative projects such as OncoPrime, KBBM, PRiME-R, and HVC KYOTO. Now he is in charge of the development of startup companies from the university hospital and strategic alliances with major stakeholders in the local and global innovation ecosystem in the life science field. Before start current role, he was a professor at the University of Tsukuba and co-founded Research Studio powered by SPARK, a platform for fostering medical entrepreneurs. In addition to his academic career as an entrepreneurship trainer, he worked as a marketing and project management specialist in multinational corporations and start-ups. He received post-doctoral training at Stanford University and a Ph.D. from Osaka University.

Stephen Ubl

President and Chief Executive Officer, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)

Stephen J. Ubl is president and chief executive officer of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which represents America's leading biopharmaceutical research companies. Mr. Ubl leads PhRMA's work preserving and strengthening a health care and economic environment that encourages medical innovation, new drug discovery, and access to life-saving medicines. “If anyone can find areas of agreement with the critics, or at least work productively with them, it may be Mr. Ubl," the New York Times wrote in February 2016. "He is more conversant with the intricacies of health policy, and more adept at the politics." He is routinely recognized as one of Washington’s most effective advocates, and, in 2019, was named one of Business Insider’s “DC Healthcare Power Players.” He is consistently named to Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” list and is identified as a top health influencer by Medical Marketing & Media and PR Week magazines.