London, UK – 2nd September 2020. Actimed Therapeutics, the clinical stage company focused on bringing innovation to the treatment of muscle wasting disorders, with a focus on cachexia, today announces the appointment of Dr Chika Yoshinaga as Advisor to the company to provide support for its development, partnering and financing efforts in the key Asian markets.

Robin Bhattacherjee, CEO of Actimed Therapeutics, said: “We are delighted that Chika has agreed to become an Advisor to Actimed. She has an exceptional background in venture capital, pharmaceutical business development and clinical operations in Japan and China. These are strategically important markets and we expect the region to contribute to building significant investment in and value for our Company. Chika’s experience and network amongst local investors and potential partners will be invaluable to Actimed as we move forward with our plans for ACM-001 (S-pindolol). Chika has already been pivotal in bringing a significant investment into Actimed from SRD Holdings, a strategic institutional investor based in the region.”

​Dr Yoshinaga is the founder of Asajes Ventures. Asajes Ventures provides local operational support including regulatory, clinical, and business development as well as financing to western biotech companies to speed up innovative product development in a more time and cost effective way in Japan and China, the two key markets in Asia. With over two decades of cross-border industry experience, she has built a deep understanding of Chinese and Japanese healthcare markets, including the regulatory, clinical and commercial as well as financial environments. Her broad network of contacts at Asian and European companies has also been instrumental in successfully facilitating cross-border company transactions.

Prior to launching Asajes Ventures, Dr Yoshinaga worked as an independent consultant in Asia to provide advice to western companies. Before that, she worked as head of Corporate Development in Japan and China for Quintiles (IQVIA), responsible for inorganic growth including M&A in these markets.

She previously worked for one of the largest European venture capital firms, Sofinnova Partners, as VP Asia, Chief Representative in China. She started her venture capital career at NIF SMBC Ventures Co, Ltd, the second largest VC firm in Japan, where she headed the European life sciences area and directed equity investments in a number of biotech companies that achieved successful exits.

Dr Yoshinaga earned her M.D. degree from Shanghai (China) Medical University and Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Yokohama (Japan) National University. Dr Yoshinaga speaks fluent Chinese, Japanese and English.

Dr Yoshinaga commented: “I have been deeply impressed with the team at Actimed and the world-leading expertise that exists in the Company. I have seen many Western biotech companies that missed precious opportunities to enter key Asian markets due to lack of local market intelligence and support. This was the reason that I launched Asajes Ventures, with the goal to provide this support to Western companies as well as bring benefit to patients in Asia.  I truly believe that the decades of experience and track record of SRD will greatly enhance the development of ACM-001.1 and potentially other products in the Actimed portfolio. I am hugely excited by the opportunity to be involved in bringing potential benefit to patients suffering from cachexia in key global markets including those in Asia. I look forward to using my unique cross-sector, cross-border skill set and network of contacts in Japan and China to provide strategic support to Actimed along with SRD.”