Leadership

Kanae Gamo is the Chief Executive Officer of FIMECS, leading the company’s overall strategy and operations. She began her career at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited in 2009, working as a biologist in oncology and immunology drug discovery. In 2018, she cofounded FIMECS with former Takeda colleagues as a spinout biotech originating from Takeda. She initially served as Vice President of Biology and was appointed Chief Scientific Officer in 2021. In parallel with building FIMECS, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Tsukuba in 2020. She has extensive expertise in molecular biology, genetics, epigenetics, and next generation sequencing, and has taken increasing responsibility across target identification and validation throughout her pharmaceutical career. Leveraging FIMECS’ proprietary drug discovery platform, RaPPIDS, she drives both internal and collaborative programs with the aim of delivering innovative, lifesaving medicines to patients worldwide.

Kazuteru Aoki brings extensive leadership experience in drug discovery research and biotechnology innovation, and currently leads FIMECS’ scientific strategy and research execution as Chief Scientific Officer. He began his professional career as a molecular biology researcher in the Japanese biotechnology sector, contributing to the establishment of drug discovery platforms and leading exploratory research programs across immunology and allergy, orthopedics, and rare diseases. As Executive Officer and Head of Exploratory Research, he managed multidisciplinary discovery organizations and promoted collaborative research with industry partners and academic institutions. He later served as Head of Drug Discovery Research at multiple biotech companies, where he led exploratory and pharmacology research, advanced inter-company alliances, and contributed to intellectual property strategy. In 2022, he joined FIMECS, Inc., and since 2024 has served as Vice President of Biology. In March 2026, he was appointed Director and Chief Scientific Officer, and currently oversees the company’s scientific direction, research pipeline, and platform-driven discovery efforts.

Masaki Sudo began his career at Teijin Limited in 1996 after graduating from the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University. He joined Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Inc. (now Pfizer Inc.) in 1999, where he conducted medicinal chemistry research and later served as a project leader, leading drug discovery programs in the gastrointestinal disease area. In 2008, he joined RaQualia Pharma Inc. as a founding member following its carve out from Pfizer. He was appointed Head of Chemistry in 2012, leading research management and pipeline creation. In 2016, he moved to Nagoya University, where he served as a Designated Associate Professor. After engaging in iPS cell–based drug discovery business at Stem Cell & Device Laboratory, Inc., he returned to RaQualia Pharma in 2021 and led corporate planning and business strategy. He was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of RaQualia Pharma Inc. in January 2025. He also served as President and CEO of TMRC Co., Ltd. from March 2025 until its merger into RaQualia Pharma in January 2026, and has been a Board Director of FIMECS, Inc. since March 2026.

Kosuke Ishii is an audit & supervisory board member in FIMECS. He is a certificated public accountant passed the examination in 2004. He engaged in financial auditing at an auditing firm, Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC. After promotion to manager, he transferred to Megakaryon Corporation, a regenerative medicine startup and achived to raise a fund of total 6.2 billion yen. Also he contributed to build and maintain their corporate governance for IPO as a corporate officer. Then, he founded BioAid Corporation in 2019, which is an accounting firm to provide business management support for Biotech. He has also served as outside director and outside audit & supervisory board members for several biotech including FIMECS.