Daiichi Sankyo Announces New CEO

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Daiichi Sankyo announced that Hiroyuki Okuzawa will serve as its new CEO starting on April 1, 2025.¹ The previous CEO, Sumao Manabe, DVM, PhD, will continue to serve as representative director and executive chairperson.

Okuzawa will also serve as representative director and president. Prior to this, he served as chief operating officer of the company.

In a press release, Okuzawa said, “I am deeply honored to be the next CEO of Daiichi Sankyo and will follow Sunao Manabe’s exceptional leadership and unwavering commitment to patients and their families. Building on this foundation, I will continue to leverage Daiichi Sankyo’s strengths in science and technology, and will continuously develop our talent globally. Under my leadership, we will create a 2035 vision and a next five-year business plan (FY2026-2030), continuing to enrich the quality of life worldwide.”

In the same press release, Manabe said, “Hiroyuki Okuzawa has played a pivotal role in advancing our current five-year business plan, driving unprecedented global growth for our company. Beyond his extensive experience as an international business leader and impressive accomplishments while serving as both COO and CFO at Daiichi Sankyo, Hiroyuki has been a key figure in transforming our corporate culture by exemplifying our core behaviors of inclusivity and diversity, collaboration and trust, and continuous development and growth. As the new CEO, I am confident that Hiroyuki will continue to provide strong leadership, propelling Daiichi Sankyo to the forefront of the global pharmaceutical industry by enhancing patient care worldwide through creating new medicines with our expertise in science and technology.”

This is just the latest step Daiichi Sankyo has taken to achieve its five-year goals. In January of this year, the company announced a new smart research facility in San Diego.² The goal of this facility will be to use the latest technology to speed-up the process of drug discovery.

In a press release issued at the time, Daiichi Sankyo’s global head of R&D Ken Takeshita, MD, said, “Ultimately, Daiichi Sankyo aims to accelerate the development of life-changing medicines and deliver them to patients around the world as quickly and efficiently as possible. By leveraging the extensive data collected by our autonomous robotics that operate continuously and cutting-edge software for automated orchestration and data management, the laboratory is set to revolutionize our research processes as it will not only achieve unprecedented levels of repeatability and productivity but also enable our scientists to concentrate on intellectual advancements and leverage AI-based analytical tools.”

Sources

1. Daiichi Sankyo Appoints Hiroyuki Okuzawa as Chief Executive Officer. Daiichi Sankyo. January 31, 2025. https://www.daiichisankyo.com/files/news/pressrelease/pdf/202501/20250131_E2.pdf
2. Daiichi Sankyo Establishes “Smart” Research Laboratory in San Diego to Expedite Drug Discovery. Daiichi Sankyo. January 21, 2025. Accessed February 4, 2025. https://www.daiichisankyo.com/files/news/pressrelease/pdf/202501/20250121_E.pdf