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

Hirokazu Yamaguchi

Tomoko Maeda-Chubachi

TMC Clinical Development Consulting, Inc, President; The Institute of Drug Development Career Promotion, Founding Director; Japan Alliance of Medical School Startups, Director

Dr. Maeda-Chubachi is an advisor and consultant for pharmaceutical and biotech companies and was the Chief Medical Officer at Pelthos Therapeutics (previously Novan), leading First-in-Human to launch preparation. Tomoko is known for her expertise in drug development with over 20 years industry experience. She has led clinical and medical affairs in large pharma as well as a small biotech. She led global drug development teams, resulting in 8 approvals in multiple regions, including Xalatan, Xeljanz, Taltz, Vtama, and Zelsuvmi.　Tomoko has broad knowledge of drug development, of which process is highly regulated and need thorough risk assessment, management, and control. As a Chief Medical Officer, she worked closely with the CEO and board about the strategy and governance.

Hiroya Kuwahara

Department of Neurology and Neurological Science / Institute of Innovation Advancement
Tokyo Medical and Dental University

M.D. (graduated from Tokyo Medical and Dental University), and Ph.D. (completed doctral course at Graduate School, Tokyo Medical and Dental University). Specialist and Attending Neurologist of the Japanese Society of Neurology, and Fellow and Board Certified Member of the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine. He is engaged in 1) clinical practice, research, and education in neurology, 2) research and development of fudamental technologies for drug discovery (especialy nucleic acid drugs and drug delivery system), 3) promotion of clinical research and industry-academia collaboration, at Tokyo Medical and Dental University. He has a career of a Deputy Director at Research and Development Division, Health Policy Bureau, at the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare from 2018 to 2019, and was involved in establishing a nationwide system for promoting clinical research and accelerating venture companies in the healthcare field. He provides consultations on the needs of clinical practice, on collaborative research and field provision in relation to project implementation, and on clinical research and development.

Masaho Ishino

After engaging in medical research for 25 years, I became a patent attorney (JAPAN). Over the next 20 years, I have supported medical researchers in creating intellectual property and planning research strategies, as well as engaged in contract practice and technology transfer of university IP. Intellectual property strategies for regenerative medicine and other new modalities require not only a high level of expertise in both cutting-edge medical research and intellectual property rights, but also comprehensive knowledge covering clinical development and regulations. Utilizing my experience of contributing to the development research and practical application of university-originated seeds as a representative of an institution responsible for the AMED's Project of Translational and Clinical Research Core Centers and an organizer of nationwide academia intellectual property networks, I aim to contribute to raising the potential of intellectual property of academia/venture.

Akihiko Watanabe, Ph.D.

President, GlobalHumanScienceInnovation; Senior Consultant, Headland Strategy Group; Visiting Professor, Gifu Pharmaceutical University; BD Consultant, United Immunity; Executive Advisor, SOKK Japan

With R&D expertise atJapanese and global pharmaceutical companies as a backbone, he has been engaged in marketing, BD, management planning and fundraising, in addition to R&D. In the Editorial Committee of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, he organized roundtable discussions and special issues on practical application of academia seeds. He has been thinking about how Japanese bio-ventures can succeed. Over the past five years, he has worked at bio-venture companies as CBO or VP of BD and open innovation. He is also engaged in the making and analysing stratetgies of management, business, R&D, and marketing for pharmaceutical companies and bio-ventures on commission from a US consulting firm.