Dr. Hiroshi Nagabukuro is SFG’s co-founder, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and board chair. Dr. Nagabukuro also serves as CEO of Juro Sciences, one of SFG’s portfolio companies. He brings over 25 years of industry experience, leading and building teams that have strong track records of discovering and developing novel therapeutics. Prior to SFG, he co-founded ARTham Therapeutics as COO/CSO followed by CEO role, and strategically and operationally led the company until its acquisition by Kaken Pharmaceutical in 2021. Before ARTham, Dr. Nagabukuro was Senior Director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Takeda, where he was heading the Entrepreneurship Venture Program and contributed launches of 9 different biotech companies. Prior to Takeda, he was Research Fellow at Merck Research Laboratories, where he led multiple target identification/validation and optimization programs and significantly contributed to the adrenergic β3 program, which resulted in the approval of vibegron for overactive bladder indication. Dr. Nagabukuro also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Tohoku University Hospital. He received his PhD from the University of Tokyo.

Dr. Akira Tanaka is a SFG’s co-founder, serves as Chief Scientific Officer and a board director. Before the inception of SFG, Dr. Tanaka was the Vice President of Clinical Science at ARTham Therapeutics where he led the clinical development, conducted Phase I and Phase II studies for two products, and contributed to obtaining a POC for one of them. Prior to ARTham, he worked in preclinical drug discovery research as a pharmacologist at Takeda and thereafter in clinical development as a clinical scientist in gastrointestinal therapeutic area at Takeda Boston site. He received his PhD from the University of Tsukuba.

Mr. Kyohei Tanaka is SFG’s co-founder, serves as Chief Financial Officer and a board director. Before the inception of SFG, Mr. Tanaka led the M&A exit of ARTham Therapeutics in 2021 as the Financial Advisor. He started his career at KPMG Azsa Co., and from 2005, he engaged in advisory services for domestic and international M&A transactions at the investment banking division in Nikko Citigroup and CitigroupinJapan. Subsequently, he worked at a private equity fund in Japan before founding investment hub Corporation in 2018, where he serves as CEO, providing startups with support in financing, capital strategy, and M&A exits. Mr. Tanaka graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Tokyo and is Japan’s Certified Public Accountant.

Dr. Kanako Kuniyeda is a SFG’s co-founder and serves as an executive director (Biology). Before the inception of SFG, Dr. Kuniyeda was the director of Discovery Science at ARTham Therapeutics Inc. She contributed to designing and executing two clinical proof of concept studies and clinical research. During her doctoral studies, she did her summer internship at Genentech Inc., where her passion for drug discovery and development was awakened. She started her career as a scientist at Takeda and worked on GPCR drug discovery, drug repositioning, and iPSC disease modeling, where she contributed to four project starts and one IND. She received her PhD from the Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo.

Dr. Tatsuhiko Fujimoto is SFG’s co-founder and Executive Director (Chemistry and Alliance). Over the past 20 years, Dr. Fujimoto has been dedicated to drug discovery through target identification for GPCR, enzymes and ion channels in neuroscience and metabolic disease therapeutic areas, drug design and synthesis as a medicinal chemist, and investment as a venture capitalist. Dr. Fujimoto's representative achievements was in drug discovery related to orexin science at Takeda. He entrepreneurially launched and led the orexin 2 receptor agonist project, known as a potential silver bullet for the treatment of narcolepsy (estimated annual sales potential of 40-60 billion USD). Dr. Fujimoto received his PhD from Osaka University.

Dr. Dnyaneshwar Warude is SFG’s co-founder and Executive Director (Translational Sciences). He brings over 15 years of industry experience leading and building teams that have excellent track records of discovering and developing novel therapeutics. He dealt with multiple drug modalities including small molecule, engineered cell, antibody and peptide therapeutics. Prior to SFG, during his over 8 years tenure at Takeda, Dr. Dnyaneshwar led a Precision and Early Translation Medicine team at Immune-Oncology Drug Discovery Unit along with leading Asia-Pacific alliance and partnership activities. He also contributed in conceptualization of ART-001 with ARTham team. Before Takeda, he guided a team responsible for pre-clinical drug discovery for pain and inflammatory disorders at Lupin, Pune, India. Dr. Dnyaneshwar received his PhD from Interdisciplinary School of Health Science, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune.

Dr. Hiroshi Nagabukuro is SFG’s co-founder, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and board chair. Dr. Nagabukuro also serves as CEO of Juro Sciences, one of SFG’s portfolio companies. He brings over 25 years of industry experience, leading and building teams that have strong track records of discovering and developing novel therapeutics. Prior to SFG, he co-founded ARTham Therapeutics as COO/CSO followed by CEO role, and strategically and operationally led the company until its acquisition by Kaken Pharmaceutical in 2021. Before ARTham, Dr. Nagabukuro was Senior Director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Takeda, where he was heading the Entrepreneurship Venture Program and contributed launches of 9 different biotech companies. Prior to Takeda, he was Research Fellow at Merck Research Laboratories, where he led multiple target identification/validation and optimization programs and significantly contributed to the adrenergic β3 program, which resulted in the approval of vibegron for overactive bladder indication. Dr. Nagabukuro also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Tohoku University Hospital. He received his PhD from the University of Tokyo.

Dr. Akira Tanaka is a SFG’s co-founder, serves as Chief Scientific Officer and a board director. Before the inception of SFG, Dr. Tanaka was the Vice President of Clinical Science at ARTham Therapeutics where he led the clinical development, conducted Phase I and Phase II studies for two products, and contributed to obtaining a POC for one of them. Prior to ARTham, he worked in preclinical drug discovery research as a pharmacologist at Takeda and thereafter in clinical development as a clinical scientist in gastrointestinal therapeutic area at Takeda Boston site. He received his PhD from the University of Tsukuba.

Mr. Kyohei Tanaka is SFG’s co-founder, serves as Chief Financial Officer and a board director. Before the inception of SFG, Mr. Tanaka led the M&A exit of ARTham Therapeutics in 2021 as the Financial Advisor. He started his career at KPMG Azsa Co., and from 2005, he engaged in advisory services for domestic and international M&A transactions at the investment banking division in Nikko Citigroup and CitigroupinJapan. Subsequently, he worked at a private equity fund in Japan before founding investment hub Corporation in 2018, where he serves as CEO, providing startups with support in financing, capital strategy, and M&A exits. Mr. Tanaka graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Tokyo and is Japan’s Certified Public Accountant.

Steve brings over 25 years of senior executive level operating and transaction experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, with expertise in Japanese/Asian markets. In 1998, Steve established Mundipharma Japan and was president for nine years. From 2007, Steve served as CEO of Solasia Pharma, a cancer-focused development stage company. From 2012, he headed the Japanese operations of Shire Pharmaceuticals until 2014 when he established his own biopharma consultancy. After moving to Seattle in 2019, Steve established Renexes LLP to continue to facilitate transactions between Japanese and western biopharmaceutical companies. Steve and his wife have two daughters, and split time living in Tokyo and Seattle. Steve is fluent in written and spoken Japanese.

Ms. Ayako Kaiho is the external company auditor. Having over thirty years of experiences in management and governance as a founder, a member of operating management team or a consultant to hospital, consumer product and financial industries, she has gained confidence in building and helping new business and securing the clarity and sustainability of operation. Her working experiences in the US also contributed to those projects with global talents of diversified expertise and background. Most recently Ms. Kaiho has served as the board member of Kato Sangyo, a prime market listed food wholesaler. She received the bachelor’s degree in finance from New York University.