Typewriter Therapeutics, a portfolio company of AN Venture Partners (ANV), a global bio-venture capital firm and AMED certificated VC, today announced the appointment of Takashi Ichikawa, PhD as Head of R&D Japan.
Typewriter Therapeutics, Inc. is an emerging leader in the development of innovative gene therapies for severe genetic disorders, where patients currently have limited or no clinical options. The company has hired a global team in Chiba and Cambridge to advance its research platform.
Dr. Ichikawa’s role will be to lead R&D at the Japan site, working closely with the US site to deliver an innovative pipeline of drug candidates for patients.
AN Venture Partners (ANV) has been established by a group of experienced venture capitalists from Japan and the United States, who have a wealth of experience in founding and building start-ups. ANV was founded in 2022 in alliance with ARCH Venture Partners. It will primarily focus on sourcing innovative scientific research from Japan and building this into global biotech companies.
“I am delighted to welcome our new colleague,” said Ken Horne, Managing Partner of ANV and Chief Executive Officer of Typewriter. “Securing someone with Takashi’s experience and reputation is exciting news for us. He will bring structure, focus and new ideas to our research efforts. It is a testimony of Typewriter’s potential that we have been able to attract someone of this caliber to switch from a major pharma company to join our startup.”
"I am thrilled to be joining Typewriter, which I believe is developing a genuinely novel approach to combatting severe genetic disorders,” said Dr. Ichikawa. “After spending my whole career in a big organization and mostly in management roles, I am looking forward to the challenges of working at a startup, where we all have to get our hands dirty and do something different every day.”
Dr. Takashi Ichikawa
Dr. Ichikawa has 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, having worked extensively with Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. As a former Senior Director and Head of the New Chemical Entity Production Laboratories at Takeda, Dr. Ichikawa managed over 120 researchers across the US and Japan. At Takeda, he launched the Takeda Exploratory Challenge, a funding program established to encourage the exploration and development of internal researchers’ ideas, and created a mechanism to promote the 20% rule, under which employees can spend up to one day a week working on side projects or learning new skills.
He has an extensive track record in delivering small-molecule candidates using cutting-edge technology and AI/ML drug discovery across multiple disease areas. Dr. Ichikawa has registered 10 patents in collaboration with colleagues, published numerous scientific papers, and is a recipient of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan’s Breakthrough Award in Medicinal Chemistry. He currently serves as a visiting Professor of the Graduate School of Chiba University.
About Typewriter Therapeutics
Typewriter Therapeutics is a start-up company that focuses on the commercialization of mRNA-based gene therapies using a cutting-edge platform technology that enables the targeted insertion of therapeutic genes. Founded in February 2022, the company builds on the research of Professor Emeritus Haruhiko Fujiwara of the University of Tokyo on transposons. With research facilities in Tokyo and Cambridge, USA, Typewriter is committed to bringing Japan-originated technology to the global stage. The company aims to provide innovative gene therapies to patients suffering from severe genetic disorders.
About AN Venture Partners
ANV is a Tokyo and San Francisco-based biotech venture capital firm. ANV is dedicated to building high impact global biotech companies and specializes in sourcing scientific opportunities from Japan.
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