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.