Dr Atsushi Nagahisa | CEO
RaQualia Pharma

Atsushi Nagahisa, Ph.D., is a founder of RaQualia Pharma Inc. (RaQualia) and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer since the company’s launch in July 2008. He raised $111 million to start RaQualia and successfully completed IPO in July 2011 on the Osaka Securities Exchange JASDAQ Growth Market, raising an additional $83 MM. Under his leadership, RaQualia has established over 300 collaborations and partnerships with institutions and corporations in 17 countries around the world. Dr. Nagahisa has more than 27 years of experience in drug discovery and development. He was elected to the Board of Directors at Pfizer Japan Inc. in 2000 and appointed Senior Vice President for R&D in 2005. He served as a Vice President of Pfizer Global Research and Development (PGRD) and a member of PGRD’s Senior Leadership Team for eight years. Over the course of his career, Dr. Nagahisa has led discovery and exploratory development of >40 compounds in the inflammation, pain, asthma and GI disease. He directed the neuropeptide antagonist discovery program for Pfizer that led to the 2007 launch of Cerenia, an animal health product. Dr. Nagahisa holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. from Reed College.