“It is an honor for AN Venture Partners that Takashi has joined our partnership,” said Mr. Horne. “His successful track record as a biotech investor in Japan, the US and in Europe, in addition to his company creation experience as a founder and executive, is a perfect fit for ANV. He has decades of experience in pharma, corporate venture capital, institutional venture capital, and more recently as a founder and start-up CEO. We look forward to his leadership in helping achieve ANV’s vision – to successfully develop the Japanese biotech ecosystem on the global stage.”
"I am thrilled to be joining such an accomplished team at AN Venture Partners," said Dr. Futami. "I’m looking forward to investing in great science that can be developed into new treatments for patients, and to further connect Japanese science to the global ecosystem.
Dr. Futami is an experienced healthcare investor, entrepreneur and executive. He started his career as a researcher at Astellas Pharma Inc. where he led and managed more than 10 drug discovery projects, mainly in oncology and metabolic disorders.
He subsequently joined Astellas’s corporate venture capital arm in Menlo Park and Cambridge and was involved in many successful investments, including Potenza Therapeutics (acquired by Astellas), Bicycle Therapeutics (IPO: NASDAQ). He also managed collaborations with top academic institutes, including Dana-Farber cancer institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Weill Cornell Medicine.
Most recently, Dr. Futami was a Principal at Fast Track Initiative and played a key role in global investments and company creation from academic discoveries by identifying and evaluating new life sciences technologies. He is co-founder of reverSASP Therapeutics, K.K., a venture-backed biotech start-up based on Japanese academic discoveries.
