【LINK-J Member VC/CVC Only】 VC Café - Dive into the Cutting-Edge Innovation with the Head of Immunology Discovery at MSD

【LINK-J Member VC/CVC Only】

We are pleased to invite LINK-J special member venture capitalists (VC) and corporate venture capitalists (CVC) to the 13th edition of the "VC BAR" for a friendly discussion. This time, a special "VC Café" will be held from 2:00 p.m.

Please come and join us as a place for exchange among VC and CVC members.

This special session will feature Dr. Marc Levesque, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA's pre-clinical research leader in the immunology field, and Dr. Yoshiji Yashiro, MSD's Director of Business Development Licensing Pacific Region, who will speak on the topic of "VC Café - Dive into the Cutting-Edge Innovation with the Head of Immunology Discovery at MSD" Dr. Yashiro will introduce the company's areas of interest and ideas they are exploring in the immunology field with case studies.
Through casual exchanges of opinions with participants, we will deepen our understanding of innovations in the immunology field.
We welcome introductions from VCs and CVCs who are LINK-J special members and their companions, regardless of whether they are LINK-J members or non-members.

Please inform your companion of the URL of the application page.
Next time, we hope that you join us as a LINK-J member and participate in events!

Language:English

【LINK-J Member VC/CVC Only】 VC Café - Dive into the Cutting-Edge Innovation with the Head of Immunology Discovery at MSD

Date: Thu, November 07, 2024 (JST) From 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Venue:

Conference Rooms 1006 and 1007, Nihonbashi Life Science Bldg.

Registration

(Opens an external site)

Registration due date

Registration will close on Wed, November 06, 2024 (JST)

Program

Time（JST）	Program
2:00p.m.‐2:05p.m.	Opening remarks LINK-J
2:05p.m.‐2:15p.m.	Presentation Koji Yashiro, Ph.D.（Pacific Business Development & Licensing, Director,MSD K.K.)
2:15p.m.‐2:35p.m.	Presentation Marc Levesque, Ph.D.（Vice President, Immunology Discovery & MRL Cambridge Site Head Merck Research Laboratories,Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA)
2:35p.m.‐3:30p.m.	Discussion

Language:English

Speakers

登壇者プロフィール
	Marc Levesque, Ph.D. Vice President, Immunology Discovery & MRL Cambridge Site Head Merck Research Laboratories レベスク氏はYale 大学医学部でMDを取得し、Duke 大学で免疫学のPhDを修了しました。その後、Duke大学医学部免疫学研究科で准教授として勤務しました。その後、Pittsburgh大学に移り、リウマチ性関節炎センターの共同ディレクターやループスセンター・オブ・エクセレンスのディレクターとして、自己免疫疾患のトランスレーショナルリサーチを継続しました。NIHがスポンサーとなる研究を推進する他、臨床やラボのトレーニングを担当し、2つの大規模なリウマチ学のデータベースを管理し、ループスとシェーグレン症候群の臨床試験を実施し、リウマチ性疾患の患者を診ていました。 2014年にレベスク氏はAbbvieに入社し、最初はトランスレーショナルメディシンのメディカルディレクターとして働きました。この時期、レベスク氏はABT-981（lutikizumab; anti-IL1α/β）の臨床リードを務め、侵襲性の手の関節炎や膝の関節炎に対する第1相および第2a相の研究を完了しました。また、Humira（adalimumab）やSkyrizi（risankizumab）を含む他のAbbvieの製品の第3相臨床試験も実施しました。トランスレーショナルメディシンでの仕事の後、レベスク氏はEarly Immunology Discoveryのシニアディレクターとして、Abbvieの新しいケンブリッジサイトを立ち上げるチームを結成しました。この役割では、彼のチームは計算生物学とin vitroおよびin vivoの標的検証の組み合わせを使用して、新しい自己免疫、自己炎症性および線維症療法を特定しました。 2022年、レベスク氏はMerck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USAに入社し、Immunology DiscoveryのVice PresidentおよびMerck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USAケンブリッジサイトヘッドに就任しました。レベスク氏は、胃腸疾患、アレルギー疾患、リウマチ性疾患を持つ患者のための新しい免疫標的療法を推進する役割に加えて、Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USAの治療領域全体で新しい薬物標的を特定するために、病気に関連するアッセイとAI/ML-drivenバイオインフォマティクスの組み合わせを使ってケンブリッジサイト全体の研究活動をコーディネートしています。
	八代好司事業開発ライセンシング　ディレクター、MSD株式会社 Nature NeuroscienceなどのHigh impact Factorの雑誌に論文を発表し、PhDを取得。アステラス製薬で多様な疾患領域の創薬プロジェクトに従事した後、事業開発に転身。バイエル薬品では日本の主要な大学やベンチャー企業との研究提携を築き、アライアンスマネジメントを行う。これらの経験を活かし、2020年からMSDのBusiness Development＆Licensingにて、東京をベースにアジアにおける早期アセットの探索と評価をリードしている。岐阜大学農学部修士、ノースカロライナ大学医学部細胞分子生理学科PhD、三段跳を愛するアスリート。

Profile
	Marc Levesque, Ph.D. Vice President, Immunology Discovery & MRL Cambridge Site Head Merck Research Laboratories, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA Dr. Levesque received his MD degree from Yale University School of Medicine and completed his PhD in Immunology at Duke University, where he stayed on as faculty in the Department of Medicine and in the Duke Immunology Graduate School. He later moved to the University of Pittsburgh, where he continued translational research in autoimmune disease as Co-Director of the Rheumatoid Arthritis Center and as Director of the Lupus Center of Excellence. In addition to running an NIH funded research laboratory, Dr. Levesque taught clinical and laboratory trainees, managed two large rheumatology databases, executed lupus and Sjogren’s syndrome clinical trials and cared for patients with rheumatic disease. Dr. Levesque moved to Abbvie in 2014 and worked initially as a medical director in Translational Medicine. During this time, Dr. Levesque was the clinical lead for ABT-981 (lutikizumab; anti-IL1α/β), which completed phase 1 and phase 2a studies for erosive hand osteoarthritis and knee osteoarthritis. He also executed Phase 3 clinical trials for other Abbvie assets including Humira (adalimumab) and Skyrizi (risankizumab). Following work in Translational Medicine, Dr. Levesque built a team that established Abbvie’s new Cambridge site as a senior director in Early Immunology Discovery. In this role, his team identified new autoimmune, autoinflammatory and fibrosis therapies using a combination of computational biology and in vitro and in vivo target validation. In 2022, Dr. Levesque joined Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA as Vice President of Immunology Discovery and as the site head for Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA’s MRL Cambridge site in Massachusetts. In addition to his role in bringing forward new immune-targeted therapies for patients with gastrointestinal, allergic and rheumatic diseases, Dr. Levesque coordinates scientific activities across the Cambridge site using disease related assays and a combination of AI/ML-driven bioinformatics to identify new drug targets across Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA’s therapeutic areas.
	Koji Yashiro, Ph.D. Pacific Business Development & Licensing, Director,MSD K.K. Koji Yashiro is a director, business development and licensing Asia Pacific region at MSD, where he leads search and evaluation activities across Asia, with a primary focus on early-stage assets in Japan and Korea. He has more than 10 years of business development experience with several global biopharmaceutical companies including Astellas, Bayer and now MSD. Prior to business development, Koji worked as a researcher in industry for more than 12 years at Astellas, Urogenix Inc in the US, CSIRO Animal Heath in Australia, and Higeta Shoyu in Japan. Koji received his PhD in cell and molecular physiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he authored several publications including a first author paper in Nature Neuroscience.