Executives

Directors

Title

Name

Bio

CEO

Masafumi Kuroishi

He is the former Executive Partner of Watervein Partners. He has been Outside Director of KinoPharma since 2006 and was appointed CEO in December 2010.
He has experience in investing and incubating a number of biotech successful startups in Japan.
Ex-JST/START program promoter. He holds an MBA.

Director
Head of Research and Development

Hiroshi Onogi

After working as a researcher of CREST and NEDO, he became a Specially-appointed Research Associate of Kurokawa Laboratory at The Institute of Medical Sciences, Tokai University in 2003.
He founded KinoPharma and was appointed COO in 2005. Since then, as the Leader of Drug Discovery Program, he has been engaged in activities, ranging from platform technologies to development.

Director
Head of Clinical Development

Katsuhiko Sato

After engaging in discovery research at Chugai Pharmaceutical, he moved to the clinical development department, where he achieved approval of an osteoporosis drug, and was appointed General Manager of the department in 2008. His experience also covers the establishment of a clinical development organization at Chugai Joint Venture in South Korea. He holds a Ph.D.

Director
(in charge of business strategy)

Masahiro Tomoyasu

He had been engaged in drug discovery at Chugai Pharmaceutical. He changed his careers to venture capital and served as the Deputy General Manager of Life Science at Mitsubishi UFJ Capital. He served as a director of KinoPharma from 2016. He concurrently serves as a director of Kringle Pharma. He holds a PhD.

Outside Director

Yoshiaki Someya

He has been engaged in clinical development at Chugai Pharmaceutical. He was appointed as the Director of Clinical Development of Chugai Pharmaceutical in 2005. He was appointed President of Chugai Pharma Science (Beijing) in 2011 and has been served as an outside director of KinoPharma since January 2018.

Outside Director

Osamu Fujiwara

After working at Deutsche Securities and TPG Capital, he joined Japan Growth Investments Alliance as a director (current position) in 2017. He has been serving as an outside director of KinoPharma since September 2018.

Executive Officer

Title

Name

Bio

Executive Officer
Head of Business
Development and Planning

Masaki Inami

Joined KinoPharma in 2024. Prior to joining Kino, he worked for Japan Tobacco (JT), Mitsubishi Pharma, Akros Pharma and Torii Pharma, where he gained extensive experience in the pharmaceutical business, including biological research, clinical and business development. He contributed for launch of new drugs such as Riona and Corectim, as well as numerous in-licensing and partnership deals.

Executive Officer
CFO

Masanori Nakamura

Joined KinoPharma in 2021. Previously worked for Resona Bank and Resona Capital, one of Japan's leading financial groups. After Resona Group, he served as CFO of a cancer immunotherapy biotech and led the company to profitability.

Auditors

Title

Name

Bio

Full-time Auditor

Masamichi Nishimoto

After engaged in the key role of launching pharmaceutical business at Japan Tabacco, he served as the first director of the pharmaceutical department. After leaving the senior management Director position of JT, he was appointed as CEO of Yuki Gosei Kogyo (TSE 4531). He has been serving as a full-time auditor since April 2017.

Outside Auditor

Kakuji Mitani

After working at Momo-o, Matsuo & Namba, he studied at Colombia Law School in the US. After working at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in NY, he became a partner of Momo-o, Matsuo & Namba.. He established SPARKLE LEAGAL in April 2021 (current). He was appointed as an auditor of KinoPharma in January 2018. He is a lawyer.

Outside Auditor

Naoko Harima

She had been engaged in corporate audits at Asahi Audit Corporation (current KPMG AZSA) and then in REITs at Japan Hotel and Resort in 2008. She also established Naoko Harima CPA Firm in 2008. She was appointed as an auditor of KinoPharma in January 2018. She has been serving as an outside director of Atsugi Co.,Ltd. since June 2018 and as an auditor of BizReach Inc. since January 2019. She is a certified public accountant.