Interview with: Hideki Maki, Shionogi
The Japanese pharma company Shionogi is among the industry partners of AMR-focused incubator INCATE. We spoke with infectious disease expert Hideki Maki who represents Shionogi in the incubator’s selection committee.
With INCATE a new public-private consortium was launched on 25 August 2021 during the Summer Edition of the AMR Conference 2021 to boost the development of new drugs and start-ups in the AMR space. Partners from the academic, industrial and public sectors are working together to accomplish this task. (learn more) For the AMR Conference 2022, 7-8 April in Basel, INCATE has started a start-up competition. Want to take part? Learn more here: https://amr-conference.com/start-ups-amr-conference-pitching-session/
Among the industry partners backing INCATE is also Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi. Please find below a short interview with Hideki Maki, Principal Scientist, Infectious Diseases.
Why did you choose to join the INCATE program?
Maki: AMR is a global issue. Shionogi backs the INCATE approach to help innovators bridge the gap from research to becoming investable companies. Innovation is key to addressing the AMR issue, but it requires partnerships across the ecosystem to accelerate the development of new solutions to the AMR challenge. Shionogi is willing to play its part in building these partnerships to help tackle the most difficult barriers in development and delivery of AMR solutions.
What is success for the INCATE program for you?
Maki: By building a global network, Shionogi aims to be recognized as the partner of choice when dealing with infectious diseases. We aim to deliver innovative therapies and Shionogi is delighted to participate in the INCATE program.
What are you hoping that your organization can bring to INCATE and the ventures chosen in the program?
Maki: Opportunity for collaborations and/or alliances to advance potential innovations to pre-clinical or further development stage. Our expertise and know how on patient and clinical need to help shape product development.
What do you think is the most important need in the field of antibiotic development?
Maki: Greater public support and awareness is key to remove bottle necks and accelerate Industry-Academia-Government collaborations. As infectious diseases, especially AMR issues are global problems, ideally they should be dealt with under some international agreement system such as the COP26 on the issues of climate change.
About Hideki Maki | Principal Scientist, Infectious Diseases, Shionogi
Hideki joined Shionogi & Co., Ltd., a Japanese pharmaceutical company, as a researcher in 1991, just after completing a Master’s program in molecular microbiology at Osaka University. For more than half a century, Shionogi has been active in the research and development of various unique antibiotics, represented by cefiderocol, moxalactam, and doripenem to name a few. Since 2005, Hideki has been leading multidisciplinary teams as Section Manager/Director at Shionogi, in charge of more than 30 antibacterial and antifungal programs including drug-discovery, R&D, in-license, out-license, life cycle management of the marketed drugs, and global research collaborations with academia, startups, and companies including even outside the pharmaceutical industry. He has accumulated a wide range of expertise and know how necessary for drug development in dealing with natural compounds, small molecules, peptides, oligonucleotides, antibodies, bacterial phages, etc., as well as in establishing original in vitro and in vivo evaluation systems for anti-infectives in view of translational science.
More information about INCATE can be found here: https://www.incate.net