Takao Yoshida is Senior Deputy Director, Oncology Research Laboratories, Oncology Research and Development Center, Ono Pharmaceutical, Co., Ltd. where he leads the drug discovery research and translational research in the immuno-oncology area. Based on the achievement of the collaborative study on an immune checkpoint molecule “PD-1” with Professor Tasuku Honjo of Kyoto University, Takao joined in a project of anti-PD-1 antibody for antitumor immunotherapy in 2002. Through the collaborative research with Medarex (currently Bristol-Myers Squibb), Takao had been at the scene of a fully human anti-human PD-1 antibody nivolumab (Opdivo®) being created. Takao contributed as a research project leader to gain the world’s first approval of anti-PD-1 antibody, nivolumab (Opdivo®) for the treatment of unresectable melanoma in Japan on July 4, 2014.
Takao holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Osaka University.