A comprehensive portal site for Medical Innovation Support Office (MEDISO).Medical Innovation Support Office

Tetsuo Miura

Specially Appointed Researcher, Center for Clinical Sciences, National Center for Global Health and Medicine

I worked as a product and business development manager primarily in the fields of diagnostic equipment-reagent systems and medical devices at major foreign pharmaceutical and domestic medical device companies, and also participated in global product development teams at the US and French headquarters. I have medical science knowledge in the fields of infectious diseases, immunology, cardiovascular diseases, metabolism, reproductive medicine, and laboratory medicine, as well as information on the medical field. After mandatory retirement, I served as a senior researcher at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, responsible for developing and implementing international collaborative clinical research and clinical trials for pharmaceuticals and medical devices with clinical trial networks in Southeast Asian countries. Currently, as part of an industrial-medical collaboration project, I also provide guidance and support to companies in product development with an eye toward exit strategies such as obtaining pharmaceutical or WHO PQ approval, and being included in guidelines in cooperation with related medical sectors and societies.

Atsushi Shimada

Chief Technology Development Officer ・ Specially Appointed Professor, Tohoku University Drug Discovery Strategy Promotion Organization
AN Venture Partners, Venture Partner
Patent attorney

Atsushi Shimada is a Specially Appointed Professor and Chief Technology Development Officer (CTDO) at Tohoku University, where he leads initiatives to accelerate the commercialization of academic innovations and the creation of university spinout companies. He also serves as a Venture Partner to AN Venture Partners, a cross-border life sciences venture capital firm investing in innovative biotechnology companies. Prior to joining Tohoku University, Mr. Shimada held leadership positions in intellectual property, business development, and corporate strategy at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and Bayer. He subsequently became a life sciences investor, supporting the formation, financing, and growth of early-stage biotechnology startups. Throughout his career, he has led numerous strategic licensing transactions, M&A projects, technology transfer initiatives, venture investments, and intellectual property strategies across a broad range of therapeutic areas. As a registered Japanese Patent Attorney, Mr. Shimada combines scientific expertise with extensive experience in intellectual property, venture capital, and pharmaceutical business development. He has worked closely with researchers, entrepreneurs, pharmaceutical companies, universities, and investors to translate cutting-edge scientific discoveries into successful commercial ventures. As a MEDISO Startup Support Mentor, Mr. Shimada provides practical guidance on startup formation, business strategy, intellectual property, licensing, fundraising, and global commercialization. Drawing on his unique perspective as both a technology commercialization executive and venture investor, he is committed to helping researchers and entrepreneurs build globally competitive life sciences startups and maximize the societal impact of their innovations.

Yumi Kawata ,MD, PhD

Hedgehog MedTech, Inc.

She is Founder and CEO of Hedgehog MedTech, Inc, a start-up Digital Therapeutics (DTx) company. Previously, she was a manager with SoftBank Corp, where she evaluated new Healthcare & Life Science investment opportunities, managed relationships with strategic partners. Prior to SoftBank, she was a Government Relations specialist with Medley, Inc, where she built and maintained the relationships with Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and Academia. She launched researches and POCs, contributing to the spread of telemedicine in Japan. She also served as a technical officer for MHLW. she was involved in the management of researches on Rare and Intractable diseases and Infectious Diseases.

Takeshi komatani

Takeshi S Komatani is currently principal litigation certified patent attorney in the field of chemical/pharma and bio/life sciences at a patent law firm, and has a number of counsels, including in academia, start-ups and big pharma internationally. Takeshi received his PhD from the University of Tokyo, Japan, received his LLB and LLM (global legal practice) from Keio University, and is currently a visiting professor at Kobe University, teaching IP strategy in entrepreneurship and Doshisha University (Kyoto). He has completed CEIPI Summer School on IP (University of Strasbourg), France. He is also qualified as a pharmacist with a certificate of Kampo and natural medicines specialist qualification. He was a researcher at F Hoffmann-La Roche in Basle, Switzerland. He has completed the EU-recognised PharmaTrain course at Osaka University, and is qualified as a board-certified member of the Japanese Association of Pharmaceutical Medicine. He is a member of the AIPPI and vice chair of TRIPS SC and a member of IP-GRTK SC and Pharma SC, and a member of the editorial board of the Pharmaceutical Patent Analyst (UK). He is also a member of JPAA, APAA, IPAJ, PSA, JPA, CSAIP and AAAS. He has lectured in academia, including at Japanese and German universities and WIPO Academy, and contributed to a number of articles.

Masatoshi Tachibana

BPM Consulting Office Representative

He worked in the medical device division of a precision equipment company for over 25 years, working in a series of tasks spanning the product life cycle, including marketing (domestic and overseas market research, business development), product planning, legal and regulatory compliance, quality management system construction. He has experience managing numerous projects, including those outside the company also. His policy in conducting business is to maximize the performance of the organization by promoting overall optimization, making decisions based on a bird's-eye view, and building good relationships with all of stakeholders. Based on these knowledge and policies, He provides fact-based and risk-based support to ventures and small and medium-sized enterprises aiming for practical application in the medical field.