About Us
EPS Innovative Medicine Co., Ltd. will serve as a
bridge to send
promising seeds from
both Japan and overseas to
the market
as soon as possible.
About Us
EPS Innovative Medicine (Japan) Co., Ltd. is the core company of the drug discovery and development of the healthcare business operated by EPS Creative Health Technology Group Limited. Our business is to enhance the value of drug candidates and technologies introduced by our joint venture (JV), which is a company of our group, or those found in our research division, by combining the knowledge and know-how accumulated by EPS Group over many years and promoting clinical development on our own. We will then realize the manufacturing and launching in Japan and particularly in China or licensing them to our partner enterprises.
We will build a platform for new drug discovery and regenerative medicine and act as a “bridge” so that promising drug candidates and technologies in Japan and other countries can be delivered early not only in Japan but to the world market, particularly in Asia.
Greetings from the President
Representative Director
President and Representative Corporate Officer and CEO
Tomohiro Nakatani
EPS Innovative Medicine (Japan) Co., Ltd. was established on October 8, 2021, as a company responsible for the drug discovery business , which the EPS Group is challenging as a new business domain.. It comprises the Development Promotion Center and the Research Center as its drug discovery divisions. The Development Promotion Center supports affiliated companies of the EPS Group, such as FEF Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and EPD Co., Ltd., which specialize in the development of technologies and drug candidates discovered by academia, and is engaged in the development of new drugs and regenerative medicine. The Research Center focuses on secretory IgA present in the mucous membranes throughout the body and conducts research on its association with allergic diseases, as well as studies on tongue sublingual vaccines that enhance defense against bacterial and viral infections. The technologies and drug candidates that EPS Innovative Medicine (Japan) Co., Ltd., Ltd. is working on in its research and development are still in the early stages, and the technologies and drug candidates of FEF Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., which are about to start Phase I/II investigator-initiated trials, are at the most advanced stage of development. By leveraging the knowledge, talent, and network that the EPS Group has cultivated through clinical trial support in Japan and China, EPS Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. aims to steadily advance clinical development, enhance the value of the technologies and drug candidates, and deliver outputs to the Asian market, with a focus on Japan and China.
Management Team
Director and Audit & Supervisory Board Member
Corporate Officers
Hiroaki Yamazaki
Corporate Officer
Hiroaki Yamazaki Joined a local construction company in April 1993. After working as an administrative staff at a construction site, he has been involved in human resources practice as a personnel manager since April 2000. After eight years of HR experience, he joined EPS Corporation. in May 2008. After being in charge of training, he became a full-time HR manager in 2011 and was in charge of overall personnel and labor affairs, gaining experiences and achievements, mainly in the planning and operation of personnel systems. After that, he served as the HR manager of EPS International Holdings Co., Ltd. in October 2019, EPS Innovative Medicine (Japan) Co., Ltd. in May 2022, and EPS Medical Consultancy (Japan) Co., Ltd. in June 2022.
Masataka Haraguchi
Advisor
In 1982, he started to work at TERUMO CORPORATION as Business Development Planning, President of D&D (drug and device) Business, and General Manager of Sales Division . After retiring as a senior Corporate Officer and Director in March 2023, he was appointed as Advisor to EPS Holdings, Inc. and Advisor to EPS Innovative Medicine (Japan) Co., Ltd.
Tomohiro Nakatani
Representative Director President and Representative Corporate Officer and CEO
Tomohiro Nakatani started his career at Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd. (currently Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd.). While working there, he started to study as a research student at the Faculty of Medicine (Epidemiology and Biostatistics School) of the University of Tokyo in 1990, and was engaged in clinical development operations in Japan and the United States. He served as the head of Biostatistics, Data Management, and Clinical Pharmacology Department, Director of Project Management Department, and Director of Development Coordination Department. He was also involved in industry activities as a member of the Steering Committee of the Drug Evaluation Committee starting in 2012 and as Chairman of the Review Board of Ethical Drug Product Information Brochure from 2017 to 2021 at Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. He joined EPS Holdings, Inc. in 2023, concurrently serving as Representative Director President and Representative Corporate Officer and CEO of EPS Innovative Medicine (Japan) Co., Ltd. He is a pharmacist and a trial statistician certified by the Biometric Society of Japan.
Shoichi Narumi
Corporate Officer
Shoichi Narumi joined EPS Corporation, where he was involved in monitoring operations in CRO’s clinical development support. In 2018, he was assigned to the academia business development. After that, he was seconded to EPS International Holdings Co., Ltd., where he worked in the clinical development department, and then transferred to the business planning department of the company, where he served as the general manager of the department, contributing to the forecast management and the introduction of clinical development-related systems. At EPS Medical Consultancy (Japan) Co., Ltd., he was responsible for accounting and forecasting, and in April 2023, he was appointed as Corporate Officer. In October 2023, he was appointed as Corporate Officer of EPS Innovative Medicine (Japan) Co., Ltd..
Tomohisa Hayakawa
Advisor
Tomohisa Hayakawa was engaged in clinical development planning and project management in Japan, the U.S. and Europe at Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Daiichi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. He joined EPS in 2007 and was in charge of project management and business development in Japan, China, and Asia. Since 2021, he has been concurrently held the position of Corporate Officer of EPS Innovative Medicine (Japan) Co., Ltd. He was appointed President and Representative Director of EPD Co., Ltd. in the same year. He has extensive experience in oncology area. He also has experience in public activities as a member of the Research Evaluation Committee of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and a program committee member of the DIA Annual Conference in Japan for Asian New Drug Development, etc. He is a Ph. D in pharmacy and a pharmacist.
Toshihiko Komori
Advisor
Toshihiko Komori was engaged in research, development, and project management in several therapeutic areas including immunology, oncology, and metabolic disorders at Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd from 1983. After the company’s alliance with Roche in 2002, he was mainly in charge of project and portfolio management, early clinical development, etc. In March 2020, after the completion of his tenure as Corporate Officer, he joined EPS Holdings, Inc. as Corporation’s Advisor in October, and in 2022, he also began to serve concurrently as Advisor of EPS Innovative Medicine (Japan) Co., Ltd.
Tetsuro Yamamoto
Head of Research Center
Tetsuro Yamamoto founded a CRO for functional foods, TTC Corporation, in February 2001 and served as President and Representative Director. In 2020, he was appointed EPS Research Center Director of EPS Holdings, Inc., following the merger of his company with EPS Holdings Co., Ltd. In the meantime, he served as a visiting professor and a part-time lecturer at eight universities, including Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo. In 2005, he established TMS Co., Ltd. and served as Representative Director. In 2021, the company and Biogen Inc. in U.S. succeeded in Phase II trial for a new drug to treat acute ischemic strokes. TMS entered into an agreement with Biogen Inc. for $357 million as milestone payments and approximately 10% of expected future sales as royalty payments. In February 1999, Tetsuro Yamamoto won the first Hiratani Tamio Commemorative Awards (a study on killer toxin of Hansenula mrakii yeast). His achievement contributed significantly to the study by Kurt Wüthrich (Switzerland), a winner of Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2002, on NMR spectroscopy for the identification of three-dimensional structure of large biological molecules. He is a PhD of engineering.
Atsushi Kotani
Corporate Officer
After completing the graduate school, Atsushi Kotani started to work on basic research, exploration research and drug discovery research at Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, seconded from a Japanese pharmaceutical company. Mr. Kotani joined EPS Corporation in 2008 and started to work on clinical development as a monitoring manager. In 2019, he started to work concurrently for Investment Strategy Department of EPS Holdings, Inc. and implemented drug discovery-related projects through investments in biotech companies and other means. He became Board Member of FEF Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in 2021 and is leading in-house product developments.In October 2023, he was appointed as Corporate Officer of EPS Innovative Medicine (Japan) Co., Ltd..
Masanori Suzuki
Advisor
Updating