Juan Harrison has moved from Takeda Ventures (TVI) to head up New Frontier Science (NFS), a new unit that aims to build relationships with academics and entrepreneurs developing disruptive ideas to improve patients' lives.
Japan-based drugs company Takeda Pharmaceuticals could launch its early-stage development initiative as early as next month after a shake-up of its corporate venturing unit.
Juan Harrison has moved from Takeda Ventures (TVI) to head up New Frontier Science (NFS), a new unit that aims to build relationships with academics and entrepreneurs developing disruptive ideas to improve patients’ lives. He reports to Tadataka Yamada, who became Takeda’s first chief medical and scientific officer after the role was created in November following the company’s completion of the Nycomed acquisition.
Harrison’s director colleagues at NFS include Hiroshi Maeda and Kevin Haug and the group could number 10 to 12 after launching in offices in Germany, Japan and the US.
Harrison said TVI could then potentially take on these ideas and relationships from NFS through buying minority equity postions as part of a syndicate in a company, or they might be taken on by another part of Takeda’s business development units, if appropriate.
Harrison was replaced earlier in the month by Ilan Zipkin, former chief executive of venture capital firm Prospect Ventures, which is managing out its first three funds with an aggregate $1.5bn under management rather than looking to raise a new vehicle following the death of co-founder Alex Barkas.
Ziplin is senior investment director at TVI, under head Graeme Martin (pictured), and will shortly be joined by Gordon Wong, former vice-president at drugs company Biogen Idec’s corporate venturing unit. Biogen last year said it would no longer make external corporate venturing investments.
The other member of TVI’s investment team, Yuji Iizawa, is a secondee from Takeda in Japan.
