Nxera Pharma Announces Appointments to its Executive Leadership Team

• Mr. Kiyoshi Kaneko appointed as Chief Commercial Officer, and Ms. Mariko Nakafuji promoted to Chief Legal Officer
  
  
  
  

Tokyo, Japan and Cambridge, UK, 1 April 2025 – Nxera Pharma Co., Ltd. (“Nxera” or “the Company”; TSE 4565) today announces two new appointments to its Leadership team: Mr. Kiyoshi Kaneko, is appointed as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), and Ms. Mariko Nakafuji is promoted into the role of Chief Legal Officer (CLO).

Mr. Kaneko brings experience in business development, corporate strategy, marketing and commercial roles within the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries in Japan. At AstraZeneca, a leading global pharmaceutical company, he held the position of Senior Vice President for its commercial organization and corporate strategy in Japan, and prior to that, as Senior Vice President of its Primary Care business unit. Since 2017, he has been Representative Director and President of Luye Life Sciences Group Japan and has led strategic partnerships with Japanese life sciences companies working across pharmaceuticals, medical devices and hospital businesses. Mr. Kaneko will take up the newly created position of CCO at Nxera and will be based in Japan.

Ms. Nakafuji joined Nxera in 2021 as General Counsel and played a key role in the Company’s transformational acquisition of the Japan and South Korean businesses of Idorsia Pharmaceuticals, as well as several other strategic projects. She previously worked at Deloitte LLP and Jones Day LLP where she specialised in corporate M&A, investments and private equity with a particular focus on the life sciences sector. Ms. Nakafuji is a qualified solicitor in England and Wales. In the new role of CLO, Ms. Nakafuji will be responsible for global (ex-Japan) legal affairs and will be based in the UK.

Leadership Team (Effective 1 April 2025)

President & Chief Executive Officer - Chris Cargill

EVP, Chief Financial Officer - Hironoshin Nomura

EVP, Chief Operating Officer - Toshihiro Maeda

EVP, President of Nxera Japan, Chief Medical Officer - Makoto Sugita

EVP, President of Nxera UK, Chief Scientific Officer - Matt Barnes

EVP, Chief Accounting Officer - Kieran Johnson

EVP, Chief Compliance Officer - Kazuhiko Yoshizumi

EVP, Chief of Staff - Candelle Chong

EVP, Chief Commercial Officer - Kiyoshi Kaneko (New)

EVP, Chief Legal Officer - Mariko Nakafuji (New)

Chris Cargill, President and CEO of Nxera, commented: “I’m delighted to welcome Mr. Kaneko to our team at Nxera. His extensive experience at global pharmaceutical companies will allow us to maximize our commercial activities in Japan and will be valuable to us as we strive to become one of the leading biopharma businesses in Japan.

“It is also a great pleasure to announce the promotion of Ms. Nakafuji to the new role of Chief Legal Officer, a very well-deserved acknowledgement of her contribution to Nxera’s transformation over the past few years and her commitment to the Company’s exciting future.”

Mr. Kiyoshi Kaneko added: “Nxera is uniquely positioning itself in the Japanese pharmaceutical industry, and I’m confident that its foresight and agility will enable the company to capitalize on the major opportunities likely to arise as the industry in Japan accelerates its development. I’m very pleased to join Nxera at such an important time of change and I look forward to being part of Nxera’s ambitious growth plans through the development of its commercialization capabilities in Japan to bring new and innovative medicines to patients.”

Ms. Mariko Nakafuji, commented: “I am proud to step into the new role of Chief Legal Officer and look forward to working closely with the talented team to further advance our mission and build Nxera into a leading biopharma company in Japan and internationally.”

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About Nxera Pharma

Nxera Pharma is a technology powered biopharma company, in pursuit of new specialty medicines to improve the lives of patients with unmet needs in Japan and globally.

In addition to several products being commercialized in Japan, we are advancing an extensive pipeline of over 30 active programs from discovery through to late clinical stage internally and in partnership with leading pharma and biotech companies. This pipeline is focused on addressing major unmet needs in some of the fastest-growing areas of medicine across neurology, GI and immunology, metabolic disorders and rare diseases, and leverages the power of our unique and industry leading GPCR-targeted structure-based drug discovery NxWave™ platform to provide a sustainable source of best- or first-in-class candidates.

Nxera employs over 350 talented people at key locations in Tokyo and Osaka (Japan), London and Cambridge (UK), Basel (Switzerland) and Seoul (South Korea) and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565).

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Nxera – Media and Investor Relations

Kentaro Tahara, VP Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy

Shinichiro Nishishita, VP Investor Relations, Head of Regulatory Disclosures

Maya Bennison, Communications Manager

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Forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development, and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Nxera Pharma Group’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.