Mr. Kawakami has been serving as a member of the board of directors since April 2020. He has an extensive career with various leadership roles in the field of international business (including residence in Brazil and Belgium), as well as Japanese business, serving more than 30 years at Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC), the parent company of NeuroDerm.

Mr. Kawakami is currently the Executive Officer, General Manager of U.S. and Europe Operations and President of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Holdings America tasked with leading the continued growth of MTPC’s Global Business, especially in the U.S. and Europe.  In the past, he has served as Head of Sales & Marketing Division for the Japanese market, member of the board of directors at NeuroDerm, and Head of Corporate Strategy Planning. He has led M&A activities, including the NeuroDerm merger. Prior to these assignments he had served as the Head of International Business Department and was responsible for expanding global business across Europe and Asia.  Mr. Kawakami holds a Bachelor of Business degree from Ryukoku University, Japan.

Mr. Himizu has served as a member of the board of directors since October 2017. He has an extensive career in various R&D roles, serving more than 30 years at Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC), the parent company of NeuroDerm.

Mr. Himizu currently serves as the Executive Advisor of the product strategy department of MTPC, after serving as the Head of ND office. In the past, he served as Deputy Division Manager, Sohyaku Innovation Research Division, Translational Research Department Manager, R&D Reform Department Manager and Project Management Department Manager. With a leadership role in several clinical development projects, he was responsible for achieving more than 10 approvals of new drug indications/sustained release formulations in the areas of cardiovascular diseases, CNS diseases and immune inflammatory diseases.

Mr. Izaki has been serving as a member of the board of directors since May 2020.  He has an extensive career with responsibilities in various R&D roles, serving more than 30 years at Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation (MTPC), the parent company of NeuroDerm.

He is currently the head of NeuroDerm Office, collaborating closely with NeuroDerm to maximize the value of the company’s projects. Previously he served as Head of Project Management Department and Clinical Development Department, Ikuyaku Integrated Value Development Division. Taking a leadership role in several clinical development projects, he was responsible for approval of 7 new drug indications and expanded indications in the fields of immune inflammatory diseases, pediatric diseases, and CNS diseases. He received a master’s degree in pharmacy from the Department of Pharmacy, Osaka University, and is a licensed pharmacist in Japan.

Dr. Taguchi has been serving as a member of the board of directors since April 2020.

He started his career as a pharmaceutical scientist at the Pharmaceutical Research Department at Tanabe Seiyaku in 1994.

He has accumulated experience in designing oral drug formulations, manufacturing of investigational products, industrialization toward commercialization, and applications for approval; he has also worked on several products, including OTC products, which are still sold on the Japanese market.

He has been engaged in LCM strategy planning of existing drugs in the Global Product Strategy Department since 2009. Since 2013, he has been working on technology transfer processes for existing products at the Production Division and has outsourced many products and subsequently managed CMO.

He is currently the Vice President, Head of Supply Chain Management Department, Production Technology & Supply Chain Management Division, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation.

Dr. Taguchi received a master’s degree in pharmacy from Kobe Gakuin University and a Ph.D. in pharmacy from Osaka University.