Executive Director – Rx+ New Business Opportunities Head @ Astellas Pharma

About Astellas:

At Astellas we are a progressive health partner, delivering value and outcomes where needed.

We pursue innovative science, focussing initially on the areas of greatest potential and then developing solutions where patient need is high, often in rare or under-served disease areas and in life-threatening or life-limiting diseases and conditions. We work directly with patients, doctors and health care professionals on the front line to ensure patient and clinical needs are guiding our development activities at every stage.

Our global vision is centred on providing value for patients through the development of innovative health solutions based on a deep understanding of the patient experience. At Astellas, Patient Centricity isn’t a buzzword, it’s a guiding principle for action. We believe all staff have a role to play in creating a patient-centric culture and integrating an awareness of the patient into our everyday working practices, regardless of our role, team or division.

We work closely with regulatory authorities and payers to find new ways to ensure access to new therapies. We deliver the latest insights and real-world evidence to inform the best decisions for patients and their care-givers, to ensure the medicines we develop continue to provide meaningful outcomes.

About This Job:

This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role within our Global Rx+ Business Accelerator Division driving ideation internally and externally. This division of Astellas seeks to create new stand-alone businesses that integrates innovative medical technology with cutting-edge technology in different fields, to provide solutions across the patient journey from prevention through diagnosis, therapeutic and prognostic care.

The New Business Opportunities Head will be responsible for driving a continuous and robust portfolio of new, promising business opportunities. This is a Leadership position supporting the generation, incubation and evaluation of business ideas developed in house or externally.

Managing an inhouse team of c.15, this role will appeal to those with a curious mind, a passion for science and technology (particularly MedTech, Digital Health and Medical Devices), and who have a background of working in early stage ideation

Key Activities are noted below:

• Build a continuous and robust pipeline of new Rx+ business ideas through establishing internal ideation processes, capabilities, and external partnering
• Create and maintain a culture of continuous learning, curiosity and exploration, coach and mentor platform-based technical/scientific colleagues to develop their understanding and expertise related to issues specific to Rx+.
• Provide strategic direction and leadership for Rx+ programs/projects in idea generation phase and preclinical research phase
• Ensure Rx+ ideas and R+ projects move quickly and efficiently to go/no-go decision points and agreed milestones
• Evaluate and manage Rx+ research and incubation resources/budget ensuring optimal resources are applied to projects
• Ensure the Leadership Team have a robust understanding of current scientific and technical trends through continuous landscape assessment
• Support the establishment and maintenance of research collaborations with academia/external partners as necessary.
• Advise and support development and commercial members of Rx+ to assure quality scientific and non- clinical inputs are factored into key decisions across Rx+ activities. This includes collaborating with Business Development in evaluating later stage external opportunities and participating in the technical review of Rx+ based licensing opportunities

Essential Knowledge & Experience:

• Solid experience of leading ideation and incubation activities for innovative areas in healthcare and life sciences, particularly within Medtech, Medical Devices or Digital Health
• Demonstrated experience of collaborating with start-ups and venture capitalists in pursuit of improving patients’ lives through use of new technologies and approaches.
• Able to lead global teams with the ability to assess, coach and develop capabilities
• Able to deliver successful research of drug therapies or medical devices/software on time and budget, with measurable peer review for quality assurance and regulatory compliance.

Education/Qualifications:

• A PhD or equivalent qualification is desirable but not essential

Additional information:

• This is a permanent global full-time position based in the UK or Netherlands

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.