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Someone who explores the insights of patients and medical practitioners to lead new drug development based on market research analysis

  • # career
  • # developmen
  • # businessanalyst

Ikue Yoshimoto

Project & Lifecycle Management Unit
Business Insights and Strategy Dept.
Since 2019

  • University

    Majored in business administration at university in California, United States.

  • 1st year

    After graduating from university, went to work in sales at a Japanese start-up that sells medical devices for infection control.

  • 3rd year

    Joined a market research company specializing in the healthcare domain. Worked in planning and analysis of market research.

  • 8th year

    Joined a foreign-owned pharmaceutical company. Engaged in market research and analysis in the marketing division and the corporate planning department.

  • 13th year to present

    Joined Chugai Pharmaceutical. Assigned to market research and analysis, sales forecasting and business feasibility assessment of development candidate products.

A desire to reflect her own research and analysis in development strategies.

Ikue Yoshimoto had built a diverse career path in medical-related industries before joining Chugai Pharmaceutical. After graduating from university in the United States where she majored in business, Yoshimoto returned to Japan and joined a start-up that sells medical devices for hospital-acquired infection (HAI) control. ‘Attracted by the passion of the founder to eliminate HAIs, I joined the company and worked in proposal-based sales targeting medical institutions. As I gained more experience, my awareness that I wanted to have an impact on medicine overall grew, so I went to work for a market research company that specializes in the healthcare domain, with the intention of cultivating a marketing perspective to achieve that goal. I was assigned to the collection and analysis of information that leads to solving the problems of pharmaceutical companies, but I came to want to see how our output is reflected to clients’ decision making with my own eyes. I started to consider changing jobs in the hope of being involved in market research from the strategy planning stage.’

Based on her experience in market research and analysis, Yoshimoto decided to join a Japanese subsidiary of a foreign pharmaceutical company. At that company, she worked very hard on marketing, analyzing the causes of products whose sales stagnated after they were released on the market, raising the issues within the company, and connecting them to action. While she found the job rewarding, she was starting to build up a better picture of the direction she wanted to take her career. ‘In market research and analysis, the most important time is the period from before the approval of the new drug to immediately after it is launched on the market. As my ambition to be involved in the development phase grew even further, I joined Chugai Pharmaceutical, which has abundant development pipelines and new drug candidates to meet unmet medical needs.’

To be involved in creating a product from the early stages of development.

After joining Chugai Pharmaceutical, Yoshimoto took on the mission of conducting domestic market analysis and sales forecasting of company-developed products and reflecting them in business strategies. She also worked on business feasibility assessments for the introduction of products developed by Roche onto the Japanese market. In the course of this work, Yoshimoto was conscious of bringing to the company the kind of knowledge and insights that only mid-career hires can offer. ‘Based on my experience, I actively propose ideas and techniques for market research and analysis that could be useful for Chugai Pharmaceutical. My supervisor always listens to my opinions with a positive attitude, and initiatives that are worth trying can be aggressively put into practice. I feel that I am having a positive impact within the company and that I have been able to demonstrate my worth.’ She is able to engage in areas that are only possible at Chugai Pharmaceutical, which is further boosting her motivation.

Yoshimoto is currently participating in a project to develop a candidate product based on in-house research. As a market research specialist, she has been engaged in this project from the pre-clinical development stage of the product, which will be targeted to the global market. ‘To explore development directions, we plan and implement market research globally. I interviewed key overseas opinion leaders myself and collected direct feedback from actual patients via online interviews. It is quite possible that the insights I have gained through these processes will affect the profile of products to be developed in the future. I have many opportunities to talks to staff working in drug discovery and clinical development, and I am very happy when my opinion is accepted in these discussions.’ Yoshimoto says that the opportunity to be involved in creating a product from the standpoint of market research and analysis is a unique benefit that only Chugai Pharmaceutical can offer.

No moment is more precious than when inspiration strikes.

Yoshimoto says that nothing excites her more than the moment when inspiration strikes that “drugs like this can meet unmet medical needs” after encountering the insights of patients and medical professionals. She says that Chugai Pharmaceutical has advanced research and development capabilities to meet such needs and offers abundant opportunities that allow her to help patients in a true sense through her own work. She experienced that feeling first-hand when she worked on the business feasibility assessment of a therapeutic drug for COVID-19 developed by Roche. ‘It was when the COVID-19 pandemic was just starting to rage around the world, and analyzing market trends of an unknown infectious disease was a difficult theme. However, the decision was made based on the business feasibility assessment I was engaged in, and the drug was immediately approved in Japan and launched onto the market. I do not believe that I could have been entrusted with work of such great social significance at any other company.’

A mother of two small children, Yoshimoto has been building a significant career at Chugai Pharmaceutical. She gave birth to her second child after joining Chugai Pharmaceutical and returned to work after taking maternity and childcare leave. She is now working hard to balance her work with caring for her family. ‘My older child was only 3 years old when I was in the process of applying for Chugai Pharmaceutical, but having a child had no negative impact whatsoever on my work. In this company, there are many employees, both men and women, who balance work and caring for children, and there is a deeply rooted corporate culture that this is the normal way of things.’ In such an environment, going forward, Yoshimoto hopes to enhance the market research capabilities of the entire division even further, as well as focusing on nurturing younger employees.

* The contents of this article are correct as of the time of interview.

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