Shiro Akinaga, PhD

President and CEO at NANO MRNA, Co., Ltd.

Speaker

Dr. Shiro Akinaga is President and CEO of NANO MRNA Co., Ltd. (Former NanoCarrier).

He has over 30 years of experience in industrial pharmaceutical research and development, especially in oncology. Prior to joining NANO MRNA, he served as the President and CEO of AccuRna Inc, a biotech company specializing in nucleic acid medicines. Before that he has served as the Fellow, Managing Officer of Global Development, and Director of Oncology Clinical Development. at Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. He was involved in the domestic and global clinical development of small molecule and antibody drugs. Among these drugs, mogamulizumab, an anti-CCR4 antibody, was approved for marketing in Japan in 2012 for ATL and by FDA and EMA in 2018 for CTCL

SUMMARY OF PRESENT WORK:

Development of drug delivery is a big challenge to expand therapeutic application of mRNA. NANO MRNA (formerly NanoCarrier) has extensive experience and expertise in drug delivery systems of mRNA including lipid nanoparticles and polymer-based platforms. NANO MRNA proposes a unique business model called the “IP Generator” for mRNA therapeutics. In this model, the company generates intellectual property and license it to pharmaceutical companies prior to Phase I studies. NANO MRNA has several mRNA pipelines including RUNX1 for osteoarthritis and undisclosed mRNA therapeutics for ocular, skin, allergy and autoimmune diseases. In addition, the company is conducting Investigator Initiated Phase I study of the ASO/YBC polymer formulation targeting lncRNA TUG1 in GBM.