Takaaki Ishii

Takaaki Ishii is currently the Senior Investment Director at Taiho Ventures, where he specializes in biotechnology and oncology therapeutics investments. As a trained molecular biologist, he brings over eleven years of dedicated oncology expertise spanning early-stage clinical development, product strategies, and rigorous scientific evaluations. Before transitioning to the venture capital firm in 2019, Ishii worked extensively at Taiho Pharmaceutical, where he contributed to the clinical development of major cancer treatments, including the well-known oncology therapeutics ABRAXANE and KEYTRUDA. During his tenure at the pharmaceutical company, he played a key role in the successful corporate in-licensing of the therapeutic compound AB928 directly from Arcus Biosciences. Today, his current professional focus centers entirely on identifying, evaluating, and funding early-stage clinical development programs and innovative cancer therapeutics within the broader global biotechnology sector to advance new medical treatments.