Taichi Kuramochi

Head of Biologics Discovery Department at Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Speaker

I am the head of the Biologics Discovery Department at Chugai Pharmaceutical. My department creates novel antibody technologies—such as Recycling Antibody® which dissociate from an antigen in acidic conditions within the cell, Sweeping Antibody® that remove antigens from the bloodstream, and bispecific antibodies that can bind to different antigens at the left and right antigen-binding sites. In recent years, we have evolved these technologies, creating proprietary innovations such as Switch-Ig™ and the next-generation bispecific antibody technology Dual-Ig®.

I have been involved in antibody engineering since joining Chugai in 2005. I contributed to a variety of antibody projects, several of which successfully created candidate antibodies that advanced to clinical trials. I developed Fc engineering technologies for enhancing ADCC and ADCP, as well as FcγRIIb-selective binding. I also established a unique antibody engineering platform called COSMO: Comprehensive Substitution for Multidimensional Optimization.

As a unit manager, I oversaw antibody engineering, protein production, protein analysis, and automation. I have also been working closely with CMC to shorten the time to IND submission. Currently, as a department head, I am responsible for managing our entire biologics project portfolio.