Daiichi Sankyo Names John Tsai as New Global Head of R&D

Former Novartis executive John Tsai has been named the new global head of research and development at Japanese pharmaceutical giant and antibody-drug conjugate specialist Daiichi Sankyo. The change will become official on April 1, with Tsai replacing Ken Takeshita, who's been running the company's drug research since 2021.

Tsai was Novartis' chief medical officer for four years until he departed in May 2022 amid an organizational reshuffling. His appointment comes three years after he left the role as part of a sweeping reorganisation that resulted in the merger of Novartis' pharma and oncology businesses into an 'innovative medicines division and led eventually to the spinout of the group's generics unit Sandoz.

Since leaving Novartis, Tsai has been working as chief executive of UK biotech Forcefield Therapeutics and as a partner for investment group Syncona, whilst holding board roles at Purespring Therapeutics and Blueprint Medicines. He brings over 25 years of leadership experience and previously served as President and Head of Global Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer of Novartis, Chief Medical Officer at Amgen and Head of Late Phase Development at Bristol Myers Squibb.

At Novartis, Tsai is credited with the development of 160 new projects and 500 clinical trials, leading to regulatory approvals for 15 new medicines, including breakthrough products like spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) gene therapy Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec) and radioligand therapy Pluvicto (lutetium Lu 177 vipivotide tetraxetan) for prostate cancer.

"Joining Daiichi Sankyo at such a pivotal time is both an honour and exciting opportunity," said Tsai. "Daiichi Sankyo has built a world-class scientific organisation, and I look forward to building on this legacy to further drive innovation for patients."

The company's chief executive said Tsai will be a "formidable addition" to the company's leadership team as it executes a new five-year business plan at the end of the current financial year. Tsai "will bring unique expertise to our continued pursuit of cutting-edge science and technology and will be a formidable addition to the Daiichi Sankyo leadership team as we execute our next five-year business plan and beyond."

Takeshita has been in the position for five years, and was involved in developing the firm's antibody drug conjugate portfolio. The company said Takeshita had led the transformation of Daiichi Sankyo's R&D organisation "into a globally integrated engine of innovation," and helped to solidify the company's position in the oncology sector. The company added that Takeshita "accelerated and expanded" the Japanese group's antibody-drug conjugate (ADCs) portfolio – which includes AstraZeneca-partnered Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) and Datroway (dapotamab deruxtecan) – already on the market – and numerous clinical-stage candidates, including three ADCs partnered with MSD in a $22 billion pact signed in 2023.

Enhertu in particular has been the key driver of Daiichi Sankyo's strong revenue growth over the last five years and achieved sales of nearly $5 billion last year, with GlobalData predicting it could reach more than $14 billion by 2031. Last December, the collaborators won US approval for Enhertu (fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki) in combination with Perjeta (pertuzumab) as the first new first-line treatment in a decade for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Last October Daiichi shared phase III data showing its ADC drug Datroway (datopotamab deruxtecan) was the first oncology drug to significantly improve overall survival compared to chemotherapy in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.

There has been one recent setback in Daiichi Sankyo's ADC programme, however; namely, the decision was taken to withdraw a marketing application for MSD-partnered anti-HER3 candidate patritumab deruxtecan, a few months after it was knocked back by the FDA.