xFOREST Therapeutics (Headquartered in Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan; Representative Director, President & CEO: Kaoru Richard Komatsu; hereinafter “xFOREST”) today announced a new management structure and the establishment of a Drug Discovery Strategy Division. With these changes, xFOREST is building on the strengths of its discovery platform to discover, advance, and out-license its own pipeline of RNA-targeted small molecules.
Under the new structure, Kaoru Richard Komatsu serves as Representative Director, President & CEO, and Shunichi Kashida as Director, Chairman & CBO. As the company's own pipeline enters the out-licensing phase, Kashida, as Chief Business Officer (CBO), will focus on the areas that will define the next stage of growth: partnerships with overseas pharmaceutical companies, out-licensing of xFOREST's RNA-targeted compounds, and new business development. Hiroki Yoshida has been newly appointed Chief Technology Officer (CTO), responsible for the discovery platform at the core of the company's research and development.
In addition, xFOREST has created the position of Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and appointed Takanobu Kuroita to the role. The CSO leads the newly established division, which is responsible for company-wide drug discovery strategy. With the division in place, xFOREST is introducing systematic pipeline management, in which every discovery program is assessed and prioritized from a single, company-wide vantage point.
As its company-wide business model, xFOREST will use its proprietary discovery technologies to identify hit compounds against RNA targets, advance them in-house to around the lead stage, and out-license the resulting compounds to pharmaceutical companies. The changes announced today exist to execute this strategy. xFOREST's platform is built for the earliest stages of discovery, and the division's role is to turn that strength into a systematically managed pipeline.
Guided by its vision, “Make Any RNA Druggable,” xFOREST will continue to strengthen the discovery capabilities refined through its collaborations, and to grow a pipeline that brings new therapeutic options to patients who currently lack them.
The new management structure is shown on the Team page.
About xFOREST Therapeutics
xFOREST Therapeutics Co., Ltd. is a Kyoto-based biotechnology company engaged in the research and development of RNA-targeted small-molecule medicines. Building on its proprietary RNA structure analysis technology, xFOREST discovers selective small molecules for RNA targets that protein-first discovery cannot reach, and advances them into drug programs with partners.