SPECIAL ISSUE

�

� � �� �� � �� �� � �� �� � �� �

� � �� �� � �� �

SILAICEPS

� � �� �� � �� �

EUSS

www.pharmavoice.com

S

���

� � �� �� � �� �� � �� �� � �� �

� � �� �� � �� �

� � �� �� � �� �

NOITACILBUP

���

� � �� �� � �� �� � �� �� � �� �

� � �� �� � �� �

� � �� �� � �� �

Establishing and advancing a life-sciencescompany takes courage, patience, focus,

and self-awareness. Ryo Kubota, M.D., Ph.D.,knew he had to possess all of these traits be-fore leaving academia to become an entrepre-neur.

Despite words of caution from well-mean-ing associates, Dr. Kubota was determined tobuild a different kind of life-sciences com-pany. In 2002, he realized his vision when hefounded Acucela Inc., a biotechnology com-pany dedicated to developing new treatmentsfor blinding eye diseases.

His dream stemmed from his years as anaccomplished practicing ophthalmologist andeye surgeon, when all too often he had to in-form a patient about a serious eye disease forwhich there was no therapy.

Today, Acucela is addressing some of thelargest and most clinically relevant vision-im-pairing conditions, including dry age-relatedmacular degeneration, the leading cause ofblindness in people over 50. While there iscurrently no approved treatment for dryAMD, Acucela has a therapy in Phase II clin-ical trials, an achievement Dr. Kubota consid-ers to be the highlight of his career to date. Itis this type of innovation that he believes issorely lacking in the industry, but Dr. Kubotais not about to rest on his laurels.

Building Acucela to where it is today has-n’t been without its challenges, with thetoughest being building a strong organiza-tion, staffed not only by people who are highlycompetent but who fit the company culture.

2 July/August 2011 � PharmaVOICE

Commanders & Chiefs

Determined DriversThese life-sciences executives are navigating the bumps and curves of today’s road to industry success with fearless confidence and inventive maneuvering.

That culture thrives under a leader who be-lieves mentoring is critical to realizing a com-petitive advantage. He says in a constantlychanging business environment, it is impera-tive to continue to learn, grow, and adapt.

Under Dr. Kubota’s courageous and inno-vative leadership, Acucela is poised to growand advance its mission of protecting the vi-sion of patients across the globe. His next goalis to take the company’s lead product to com-mercialization.

Dr. Kubota believes in thinking differ-ently. Not only has he taken a leap with anentrepreneurial company, he is also one of thefew CEOs in the pharmaceutical industrywith his own blog.

Perhaps what has helped him most is fol-lowing some very sound advice from one of hismentors: to let go of successes in order toachieve something new. PV

Long VIEW

Ryo KUBOTA, M.D., Ph.D.

CURIOUS. PASSIONATE.NAME: Ryo Kubota, M.D., Ph.D.

CURRENT POSITION: Founder, Chairman, President, and CEO, Acucela Inc.

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: October 1966; Kyoto, Japan

EDUCATION: Ph.D., Molecular Biology, Keio University, 1999; M.D. and B.S., Keio University,1991

FIRST JOB: Newspaper boy

FIRST INDUSTRY-RELATED JOB: Acucela

PROFESSIONAL MENTORS: David Fanning, CEO, Theraclone

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS: American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO); Associationfor Research in Vision and Ophthalmology(ARVO); Japanese Ophthalmological Society;Keio Medical Society; The Japan Ophthalmologists Association; Young Presidents’ Organization

GIVING BACK: Japan American Society

WORDS TO LIVE BY: Think differently

AWARDS: Suda Award for glaucoma research,Japan Glaucoma Association, Keio University;Sanshikai Award, Keio University; Stevie Distinguished Honoree in Executive of the Yearin North America in The 2010 InternationalBusiness Awards; Finalist, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Award, Pacific Northwest, 2010 and 2011

Dr. Ryo Kubotapushes boundaries,

asks compellingquestions, and

strives to do things differently.

Dr. Ryo Kubota

performed eye

surgery on a movie

director, who went

on to win an award

at the Cannes Film

Festival.

?DID YOU KNOW?

3PharmaVOICE � July/August 2011

Commanders & Chiefs

All of these characteristics have been in-strumental in helping him to become an en-trepreneur and business leader.

If he weren’t in the field of ophthalmology,Dr. Kubota would be keen to be a diplomatbecause he is interested in global affairs. Infact, his reason for serving as a board memberwith the Japan America Society is to help cre-ate a globally collaborative environment.

Nor does Dr. Kubota allow obstacles of anysort to stand in his way. When he first came tothe United States, he didn’t speak English, butwithin a year he had earned the highest markson an English composition test in his class andwas asked to skip an academic level.

Dr. Kubota has ventured into unknownterritory his entire life — adapting and thriv-ing in a new culture, mastering new lan-guages and instruments, pursuing the limitsof science, and embarking into a dynamic in-dustry.

One thing that is certain, Dr. Kubota has aclear sense of direction when it comes to lead-ing a company. PV

where he was both an assistant professor andsenior fellow.

Dr. Kubota founded Acucela to conductscientific research with the goal of discoveringother methods of treatment for degenerativeeye diseases. His research led to the develop-ment of the company’s proprietary pharma-ceutical compound screening system thatAcucela used before evolving into a drug de-velopment company..

Though he is a world-renowned ophthal-mologist and biotechnology entrepreneur, Dr.Kubota has never been bound by a single def-inition of scientist.

His broad and creative mind drew him toa cross section of disciplines, including lan-guages, music (he’s a classically trained musi-cian), art (impressionism and contemporary),and science.

Curiosity has always been a defining char-acteristic of Ryo Kubota, M.D., Ph.D. As

a child, Dr. Kubota was curious about howthings worked, about individuals who camefrom backgrounds different from his own,and about how to make an impact on theworld.

He has always thrived on pushing bound-aries and asking compelling questions and isexcited and motivated by taking a differentapproach to solving problems.

As founder, chairman, president, and CEOof Acucela, Dr. Kubota is passionate aboutfinding treatments for devastating eye dis-eases.

A leader in neurodegenerative disease re-search, Dr. Kubota is the inventor of the coretechnology that Acucela licensed from theUniversity of Washington School of Medicine,

Dr. Ryo KUBOTA • A CurIous MInd

FAMILY: Wife, two sons, and one hamster

HOBBIES: Playing tennis, golf, and flute

READING LIST: Built to Last: Successful Habits ofVisionary Companies by Jim Collins and Jerry I.Porras; Good to Great: Why Some CompaniesMake the Leap and Others Don’t by Jim Collins

FAVORITE MOVIES: The King’s Speech and theJames Bond 007 series

CONNECTED VIA: Facebook, Twitter

TWITTER ADDRESS: drryo; FOLLOWS: PresidentObama

FAVORITE SMARTPHONE APP: Evernote

MOST UNUSUAL PLACE VISITED: Al Simbel, Egypt

LIFE LESSONS: You need to let go of what youhave achieved to get something new

UNDER THE CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY: White House

TIME TRAVEL: Back to Kyoto when he was born

Getting Personal withDR. RYO KUBOTA

!

Dr. Ryo Kubota, Founder, Chairman, President, and CEO ofAcucela, has a clear sense of direction when it comes to leading a company.

4 July/August 2011 � PharmaVOICE

Index by Company

Neil WeismanBlue Chip

Healthcare Marketing

David Ormeshercloserlook inc.

Fran HellerExelixis

Dr. Javier RevueltaPérezINC Research

Darlene DobryOgilvy CommonHealth

Medical Marketing

Dr. Uwe TigörPalio

Ahsan AwanPharmaLink

Jeff SweeneyRCW McCann Healthcare

Kurt MuellerRoska Healthcare

Advertising

Mark WillmannTorre Lazur HealthcareGroup

Acorda Therapeutics Andrew Blight, Ph.D.ACT Biotech Inc. Ali Fattaey, Ph.D.Acucela Inc. Ryo Kubota, M.D., Ph.D.Alliance HealthcareInformation LLC Mary Anne Greenberg

Almac Group Sir Allen McClayThe Avoca Group Inc. Patricia LeuchtenAXON US Mario NacinovichBeardsworth Group Donna BeardsworthBenchmark Research Mark LacyBlue Chip Healthcare Marketing Neil Weisman

Bristol-Myers Squibb Michael Castagna, Pharm.D.Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarah WharmbyCatabasis Pharmaceuticals Michael Jirousek, Ph.D.Cegedim Compliance Solutions William Buzzeo

Cempra Pharmaceuticals Prabhavathi FernandesCenterphase Solutions Inc. Beth HarperCephalon Inc. Frank Baldino Jr., Ph.D.ClearPoint Philip McCreaClinica Responsable Operativa Marlene Llopiz, M.D.

Clinical Practice Insights LLC Tiffany PatrickClinStar David Passovcloserlook inc. David OrmesherCompass IRB LLC Matthew BakerCordis Corp., a J&J company Ryan Saadi, M.D. Core Principle Solutions Pam Rattananont FerrisCryerHealth Donna CryerDudnyk Frank PowersDuke Clinical Research Institute Elizabeth Reid

eClinical Solutions Katrina RiceEli Lilly and Co. John Lechleiter, Ph.D.EMD Serono Howard Mayer, M.D.Euro RSCG Life Catapult Jeffrey Hoffmanevoke interaction B. Reid ConnollyExelixis Fran HellerFlaum Idea Group Sander FlaumFrestedt Inc. Joy FrestedtGeoVax Inc. Harriet Robinson, Ph.D.GlaxoSmithKline Alex LancksweertGlaxoSmithKline Philip Priest GlaxoSmithKline Darielle RudermanGSW Worldwide Joseph DaleyHarrison and Star Tyrone CurranHealthcare Regional Marketing Scott Weintraub

Healogix Harris KaplanHistogen Gail Naughton, Ph.D.Hospira Inc. Sumant

Ramachandra, M.D., Ph.D.i3 Gregg DearhammerICON Clinical Research Bill TaaffeIDEA Pharma Mike ReaINC Research Javier Revuelta Pérez, Ph.D. Inclinix Linda Goldman

Infinity Pharmaceuticals Julian Adams, Ph.D.Johnson & Johnson Lars MerkKendle Stephen Cutler, Ph.D.MCS HealthcarePublic Relations Calep A. (Joe) Boyd III

MediciGlobal Duncan ShawMedidata Solutions Andrew NewbiggingMedimix International Henry GazayMedImmune Tristan Vaughan, Ph.D.MedImmune Gail Wasserman, Ph.D.MicroMass Communications Alyson ConnorMillennium: The Takeda Oncology Company Joseph Bolen, Ph.D.

Molecular Profiles Ltd. Nikin PatelNovartis Joe JimenezNovartis AG Kim StrattonOceana Therapeutics Inc. David Tierney, M.D.Ogilvy CommonHealth Medical Marketing Darlene Dobry

Onyx Pharmaceuticals N. Anthony Coles, M.D.Palio Uwe Tigör, M.D.The Patient Recruiting Agency Lance Nickens

PDR Network Edward Fotsch, M.D.Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center Timothy Block, Ph.D.

Pfizer Inc. Freda Lewis-Hall, M.D.PharmaLink Inc. Ahsan AwanPHT Corp. Philip LeePPD Henrietta Ukwu, M.D. Prism Ideas James Sawyer, MBChBPublicis Touchpoint Solutions Rick Keefer

Purdue Pharma LP Mitchell Katz, Ph.D.Qforma Roger Jones, Ph.D.QualityHealth Robert RebakQuintiles Inc. Amir Kalali, M.D.RCW McCann Healthcare Jeff SweeneyRoska Healthcare Advertising Kurt Mueller

Sanofi Dennis UrbaniakSanofi Christopher ViehbacherSeaside Therapeutics Randall Carpenter, M.D. Shire Human Genetic Therapies Sylvie Grégoire, Pharm.D.

The Snow Companies Nadine McGowanThe Snow Companies Michael SimoneSpaulding Clinical Yolanda DavisStiefel, a GSK company William HumphriesSunovion Pharmaceuticals Nobuhiko TamuraSynergistix Don SchenkerTeva Women’s Health Keeshia MuhammadTGaS Advisors James MercanteTorre Lazur Healthcare Group Mark Willmann

United BioSource Corp. Annette Stemhagen, Dr.PHVeeva Vault Jennifer GoldsmithVertex Pharmaceuticals Fredrick Van Goor, Ph.D.

Who’s on the List — 2011 Indexed by Company Affiliation