Announcement on Appointment of Officers
Cellusion Inc. (Head Office: Tokyo; CEO: Shin Hatou; hereinafter referred to as “Cellusion”), which has “Regenerating Human Potential” as its mission and aims to meet the demands of corneal transplant patients worldwide with its unique technique that efficiently produces corneal endothelial substitute cell from iPS cells, is pleased to announce that Hiroaki Kobayashi, our current auditor, has been appointed as a board of director, and Yoshiharu Asai has been newly appointed as a board of director and Tomotaka Goji has been newly appointed as an auditor.
Under the new management structure, Cellusion will further accelerate its R&D toward the social implementation of corneal regenerative medicine, including the development of cell therapy using iPS cell-derived corneal endothelial substitute cell (hereinafter referred to as “CLS001”) aiming for the treatment of bullous keratopathy, which is our lead program.
Board of Director Hiroaki Kobayashi, M.D., MBA (newly appointed)
Board of Director Yoshiharu Asai (newly appointed)
Board of Director Naonori Kurokawa, Ph.D., MBA (resigned)
Auditor Tomotaka Goji, Ph.D., MBA (newly appointed)
Auditor Hiroaki Kobayashi, M.D., MBA (resigned)
[About Yoshiharu Asai]
After graduating from the Tokyo University of Science, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and furthering his studies at the Graduate School of the University of Tokyo, Mr. Asai has consistently been engaged in underwriting services at Daiwa Securities Capital Markets (currently Daiwa Securities). At Daiwa Securities, in addition to executing the public offerings of listed companies including bio ventures and REITs, Mr. Asai also handled various processes from IPO preparation to TSE examination and valuation calculation in their IPO Division, and led the IPO of the TMT sector. Subsequently, at the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (currently INCJ), Mr. Asai was in charge of investing in 5 growing companies including those in the AI and life science sectors, and from August 2020 he joined JIC Venture Growth Investments Co., Ltd. and invested in CUORiPS (4894), a regenerative medicine venture (approved for listing in May 2023).
[About Tomotaka Goji, Ph.D., MBA]
After graduating from the University of Tokyo, Faculty of Law, Dr. Goji joined the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (currently Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry), and drafted the “Limited Partnership Act for Investment” (enforced in 1998) during his tenure. Dr. Goji later joined the Agency for Cultural Affairs, subsequently earned his master’s degree in management from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business (MBA), and then joined the Financial Services Agency. In order to actually implement the principle of the foregoing Limited Partnership Act for Investment, Dr. Goji thereafter participated in the foundation of The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Co., Ltd. (predecessor of The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners Co., Ltd. (UTEC)) in 2004, and later received his Ph.D. (Engineering) from the University of Tokyo. Dr. Goji has been responsible for the establishment and operation of venture capital funds for UTEC 1 Limited Partnership to UTEC 5 Limited Partnership (total of approximately 85 billion yen), and has also been offering guidance on investments, cultivation and exit strategies of UTEC investees. Dr. Goji is a technology investment expert who has previously handled the M&A of 20 companies and the IPO of 19 companies, and is also active as the vice chairperson of the Japan Venture Capital Association (JVCA).
[About Cellusion]
Cellusion is a regenerative medicine startup originating from the Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, with “Regenerating Human Potential” as its mission and “More Freedom and More Smiles to the World” as its vision. Based on patented technology such as its proprietary technique of efficiently producing corneal endothelial substitute cell from iPS cells, Cellusion is promoting R&D aimed at meeting medical needs from the perspective of “patient centricity” by leveraging cutting-edge regenerative medicine technology, including the lead program CLS001 that aims to meet the global corneal transplant demands.
Company: Cellusion Inc.
CEO: Shin Hatou, M.D., Ph.D.
Headquarters: 8-6 Nihonbashi-Kobuna, Chuo, Tokyo 103-0024, JAPAN
Founded: January 2015URL: https://cellusion.jp/en/
For further information: please ask us through the contact form on our website.
