Yanaizu belongs to the Digital Strategy Department which leads Chugai Pharmaceutical’s digital transformation (DX). Since joining the company in 2023, she has been involved in planning and promoting open innovation in the digital technology field, as well as organizational culture reform utilizing digital technologies, leveraging her work experience at a major domestic telecommunications company. She talked to us about Chugai Pharmaceutical’s strengths that she noticed through her efforts and about the future of healthcare that she and her team are aiming for with DX.

(Interviewee: Yanaizu)

*Reproduced from Chugai Pharmaceutical’s official Talentbook website (https://www.talent-book.jp/chugai-pharm) Article details and employee positions are current as of April 2024.

I want to deliver new value to patients with digital technology. Moving from a major telecommunications firm to Chugai Pharmaceutical

Chugai Pharmaceutical formulated its CHUGAI DIGITAL VISION 2030 for the promotion of DX in 2020. With the aim of transforming its business and becoming a Top Innovator that delivers healthcare solutions that will transform society, the company is working on the fusion of its unique scientific capabilities, technological strengths, and digital technologies.

The department that has been leading this initiative is the Digital Strategy Department. Under the three basic strategies of the reinforcement of digital platforms, efficiency improvement in all value chains, and the creation of new innovative drugs using digital technologies, this department has led the company-wide promotion of DX with initiatives such as the development of in-house digital human resources, planning of incubation programs, improvement of productivity with digital technologies, and the creation of new drugs using AI.

 

‘In addition to the formulation of company-wide digital strategies, the Planning Group in the Digital Strategy Department is in charge of improving employees digital literacy and cultivating a digital mindset with the aim of making DX a company-wide undertaking. My main role in those efforts is the planning and promotion of open innovation measures in the digital technology field,’ Yanaizu explains.

 

At university, Yanaizu was engaged in the research of the metastasis of cancer cells in the Faculty of Medicine. Sheinspired by the potential of digital technology during her hospital internship, she joined a major domestic telecommunications company after graduation.. For about two years, she was involved in the development of new technology businesses related to healthcare.

 

‘At university and graduate school, I belonged to a “wet” lab (focused on biological experiments), and I had absolutely nothing to do with “dry” research of any kind, including data analysis. However, when I participated in a hospital internshipprogram in graduate school, I witnessed a number of digital solutions playing a role in medical care settings, such as diagnostic support AI, and I became interested in the IT industry.

After joining a major telecommunications company, I was involved in the planning and promotion of a smart hospital project in collaboration with university hospitals and startups, and I worked on various demonstration trials that aimed for efficient workstyle reform and the improvement of the patient experience with the use of IT and AI.

 Being involved with rapidly evolving digital technology was exciting in itself. Moreover, receiving words of gratitude from medical professionals, saying 'We can now communicate with those around us with more ease,' gave me a great sense of fulfillment. I felt a significant sense of purpose in my work.’

 

Later, Yanaizu was transferred to another department, where she worked on formulating strategiesrelated to startup investments. She found her encounters with startups in various industries, including the healthcare sector, interesting, and this led her to want to engage in digital technology initiatives in areas that were closer to actual healthcare settings and patients.

Yanaizu joined Chugai Pharmaceutical in 2023. She recalled the series of events that led to that move.

 

‘I decided that I wanted to work in delivering solutions and technologies to patients and their families, and pharmaceutical companies immediately came to mind. The company that was particularly proactive in communicating their initiatives in the digital technology space was Chugai Pharmaceutical.I felt the company's high level of commitment to promoting digital transformation (DX) as a whole, not only focusing on technological development but also emphasizing the transformation of mindsets and behavioral characteristics.

I remember being so inspired by the words of the recruiters as they talked passionately about the challenges and prospects of working on open innovation in the digital technology space. While I did have some concerns about moving to a different industry, the words of encouragement I received from one of the senior executives at the interview were the deciding factor.

To avoid mismatches between the corporate culture and the skill set they required of me, I asked them to describe the characteristics of people who could succeed at Chugai and who they thought were typical Chugai people. Their response was quite clear: ‘We do not have a clear image of a “typical Chugai person.” People who do well here demonstrate their own individual characteristics and strengths as they participate actively and contribute to the company.’

That was not the kind of response that I had been expecting, and I still remember today being very surprised by it. Now that I work here, I feel that, in a good way, there is no set form for how things should be and how value should be delivered, and that this is a workplace environment in which each individual employee can demonstrate their own specializations and strengths.

Actually I applied for a role in clinical development at Chugai Pharmaceutical when I was a student, and I reached the final interview stage.I remembered receiving very kind treatment from the recruiters at that time. Additionally, I had a recommendation from an acquaintance who was working at Chugai Pharmaceutical. These experiences were among the factors that motivated me to apply for a mid-career position there.

Establishing digital platforms with organizational culture reform and open innovation

Since joining the company, Yanaizu has been involved in the reform of the internal organizational culture surrounding digital technologies, and the planning and promotion of open innovation measures in the digital technology space. She is currently working on three initiatives simultaneously.

 ‘The first is the “Digital Innovation Lab,” (DIL) an idea creation program targeting all employees of the Chugai Pharmaceutical Group. Proponents of ideas for solutions to business challenges and the creation of new business using digital technologies play the central role in this initiative. They cooperate with partner companies on proof-of-concept (PoC) and verification of outcomes, with the aim of leading their ideas speedily to full-scale development.

Finding technologies and solutionsto solve business challenges is not easy. Currently, more than 80 companies, including major IT companies and startups, are participating in DIL, and I work on planning and promotion for the development and management of these external partners and the strengthening of collaboration.

My second initiative is the “Chugai Digital Acceleration Lab” (CDAL). This initiative started in 2021 with the aim of promoting open innovation in the digital technology space. In addition to researching and searching for overseas and Japanese startups that will lead to solutions to issues faced by individual departments and projects, we support their deliberations of collaborations through interviews, and hold a variety of internal awareness-raising events such as seminars.

I mainly work in collecting issues and needs, searching for and selecting startups in conjunction with external consultants, and supporting PoC with promising candidates.

My third initiative is “Digital Innovation Pitch” (DIP). This initiative aims to stay attuned to cutting-edge technologies and trends that combine the healthcare and digital technology spaces, and to create opportunities for collaboration with startups.

Whereas DIL and CDAL focus on solutions to issues that have already manifested, DIP deals with latent issues and needs or those that have not manifested properly. Through hints and discoveries obtained from the pitch presentations given by startups with cutting-edge technologies and solutions, we explore new opportunities for collaboration and paths for the use of digital technologies within the company.

My job includes considering the themes for events, searching for startups to invite to present, and coordinating with those startups.’

At graduate school, Yanaizu worked on research into the mechanisms that promote cancer metastasis. She says that there are many occasions in which the experience and knowledge she cultivated at that time have proved beneficial in her current work.

‘Although I do not have the level of expertise to work at the forefront, having experience in research work allows me to share with the R&D staff their sense of what aspects they find cumbersome. I feel that this has been helpful in communicating with them.

Also, issues of intellectual property and rights are extremely important when pursuing joint research with other companies. The knowledge that I acquired as a student is put to use in my current work in tasks such as organizing what kinds of experiments and analysis were conducted, what inputs were used and what outcomes resulted, and other information.’

 

On the other hand, Yanaizu says that there are other occasions that require learnings that are unique to the pharmaceutical industry.

 

‘As a life science company, it is necessary to disseminate accurate and correct information, and the confidentiality of the information we handle is very high. When collaboratingwith other companies, we need to be particularly vigilant regarding information management.

When I first joined the company, I struggled a great deal with understanding the mechanisms and rules of the pharmaceutical industry, but people at the company helped me a great deal in many ways, such as following up with me carefully and sharing information with me across divisions. Cross-divisional communication happens as a matter of course, and I was surprised by how easy it was to cooperate with other divisions and by the high level of expertise held by individuals.

Mindset is essential to open innovation. Positive internal response is the driving force

Yanaizu has been working as a liaison between internal and external parties from her first year at the company. There is one thing that she has kept consistently in mind for the realization of open innovation.

 

‘At Chugai Pharmaceutical, individual business divisions have long engaged in partnering with external parties, but there are still many people within the company who feel a psychological barrier to collaborations. To enable easy, active exchanges of information, I have felt the importance of further changing people’s mindsets and establishing the foundations for open innovation.

With the aim of creating collaboration opportunities, which would lead to the development of new solutions and drug discovery mechanisms, I am striving to foster an organizational culture that will enable more flexible communication.

Also, to effectively communicate the benefits of collaborating with Chugai Pharmaceutical to partner companies, in my role as a leader in driving cooperation with other companies, I place value in being sincere with partner companies so that our relationships will be mutually beneficial.

Chugai Pharmaceutical’s strength lies in its proprietary drug discovery technologies based on diverse modalities (categories of treatment methods), such as antibody, small molecule, and mid-size molecule drugs. When I talk to the people at partner companies, I feel their high expectations of our drug discovery technologies.

Meanwhile, Chugai has also emphasized investment in infrastructure equipment to support those advanced technological strengths. I believe that our advances in digital technology platform development using AI and robotics will be a major advantage in pursuing partnering with external parties, including startups.

Chugai Pharmaceutical placesits frontier spirit of pioneering fields thatnobody else has achievedbefore as one of its core values, and constantly challenges new science and technologies. A commitment to innovation is deeply rooted, and I personally feel that it truly embodies the slogan 'Creating beyond imagination.' I believe this mindset is essential, especially for open innovation.’

 

Yanaizu describes her own driving force as the positive response from within the company. She has turned small things into great motivation.

 

‘There are many considerate people at Chugai Pharmaceutical, and whenever I intervene and take some kind of action, I always receive words of gratitude. Each and every one of those mindful responses leads to my own sense of reward.’

The healthcare I want to realize is “healthcare without barriers.”

Yanaizu will soon enter her second year with the company. She says that her horizons have broadened significantly in this past year.

 

‘Because there has been so much talk in recent years about the discovery of seeds for new drugs by newly emerging bio ventures, when I first joined the company, I tended to focus on the R&D part of the pharmaceutical value chain.

However, now that I recognize the many initiatives and challenges that exist in the company, I believe that I can have a major impact by being able to contribute to improving the efficiency of individual departments with DX. As well as the transformation of the drug discovery process, I want to continue focusing efforts on company-wide digitalization as well.’

 

Her immediate goal is to expand the DIP for the realization of open innovation in the digital technology space. She says that she has a vision for society that she wants to achieve after that.

 

‘Our previous pitch events were open only to startups in Japan, but in 2024, we intend to invite overseas companies as well. Our mission in the Digital Strategy Department is to heighten our sensitivity to exciting technologies even further and deliver new value to patients through drug discovery. I hope we can uncover latent needs that lie dormant within and connect them to initiatives for the transformation of business.

Ultimately, our aim is to achieve borderless healthcare realized through the utilization of digital technology. We hope to see the realization of a society in which people in all positions, including researchers, healthcare professionals, and patients, are able to share healthcare-related information and communicate across national and professional borders.

One of the futures envisioned by Chugai Pharmaceutical is a vision of “Healthcare x Web 3.0.” This is a vision of a future in which patients’ healthcare data are shared between experts across the boundaries of countries and organizations, and the optimal prevention, treatment, and further, individualized medicine, are realized.

Chugai Pharmaceutical has the mindset and vision to change the future of healthcare by actively incorporating cutting-edge technologies. As a member of Chugai Pharmaceutical, I would like to contribute to the realization of such a world.’