Daiichi Sankyo appoints Hiroyuki Okuzawa as CEO

1 February 2025

Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo (TYO: 4568) has appointed Hiroyuki Okuzawa to succeed Sunao Manabe, as chief executive (CEO), effective April 1, 2025.

Dr Manabe will transition from his current role of representative director, executive chairman and CEO to representative director and executive chairperson while Mr Okuzawa will transition to representative director, president and CEO.

The company noted that, under Dr Manabe’s leadership, Daiichi Sankyo’s pioneering science and technology led to the resurgence of antibody drug conjugate (ADC) development within the pharmaceutical industry, leading to three of the largest licensing deals in history along with the approvals of Enhertu and Datroway (partnered with the UK’s AstraZeneca [LSE: AZN]), two precision cancer medicines invented with the Japanese firm’s DXd ADC Technology that are changing the way that metastatic breast cancer is treated.

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