Koji Tamada, President and CEO of Noile-Immune Biotech Inc.

I want to develop new drugs to help cancer patients for whom there is still no cure.

President and CEO of Noile-Immune Biotech Inc.　Koji Tamada(Tamada Koji)

■ Profile
Graduated from Kyushu University School of Medicine in 1992. Since 1998, he has been engaged in cancer immunology research in the United States for over 10 years, and has led laboratories as a Principal Investigator at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
He returned to Japan in 2011 and became a professor of immunology at Yamaguchi University School of Medicine.
Founded Noile-Immune Biotech Co., Ltd. in 2015.
In 2020, he became the company's representative director and president.

Noile-Immune Biotech Inc. is a university-originated venture company working to develop therapeutic drugs for solid cancers, which have not previously shown effective therapeutic effects, through the latest cancer immunotherapy. The company's CEO, Koji Tamada, has spent many years researching cutting-edge technologies in order to provide safe and effective treatments to all cancer patients. We spoke to President Tamada about his journey so far.

I entered the Faculty of Medicine at university. When I first enrolled, I not only studied, but also enjoyed spending time with friends playing tennis and other activities, and also worked part-time as a private tutor and managing one-off events. However, the Faculty of Medicine had many classes and exams related to basic and clinical medicine, and there was also the national medical examination at graduation, so I began to devote myself to studying as I progressed through the years.

■ Seeing real-world medical situations and aiming for new cancer treatments

Graduating from medical school, passing the national medical examination, and earning the title of doctor doesn't mean you'll immediately be able to see patients. Just like a paper driver who has just gotten their driver's license, your medical skills are still insufficient, and you'll need a lot of clinical experience to become a fully-fledged doctor. I spent the first two years practicing medicine as a resident, learning general medical knowledge and skills. While examining many patients during this time, I witnessed many cases of cancer patients who died because they couldn't be cured, even with the most cutting-edge medical methods of the time. These experiences fueled my desire to create more effective cancer treatments myself. So I decided to go to graduate school to focus on researching ways to cure cancer using the power of the immune system.

After moving to the US, he also worked on research related to the Nobel Prize

During my time at graduate school, my efforts were rewarded and I was able to come up with many ideas that led to new treatments. However, when I looked at the world's top-level cancer research in the United States and Europe, I felt there was a limit to what I could do while enrolled at a Japanese university. I wanted to do whatever it took to be involved in top-level cancer immunology research and create a treatment that could be provided to as many cancer patients as possible, so after graduating from graduate school in March, I immediately went to the United States to study at a local university as a postdoctoral researcher.
My research in the United States continued for 13 years. A few years after arriving, I took the lead in managing my own laboratory and became deeply involved in research on immune checkpoint mechanisms and their inhibitors in cancer. To briefly explain my research at the time, our immune systems have the ability to eliminate cells that pose a threat to our bodies. However, cancer cells have a way of negating immune attacks by utilizing immune checkpoint mechanisms, making them difficult to treat. Therefore, I developed drugs that inhibit immune checkpoint mechanisms (i.e., immune checkpoint inhibitors) to strengthen the immune system's attack on cancer cells. Researchers around the world are engaged in this research, and in 2018, Dr. Tasuku Honjo, a distinguished professor at Kyoto University, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the immune checkpoint mechanism and development of immune checkpoint inhibitors.

■The discovery of a new treatment that could potentially save humanity from cancer was the catalyst for starting a business

After returning to Japan in 2011, I began researching cancer immunotherapy using a different mechanism than the one I had used in the United States. CAR-T cells are a type of T cell whose aggressive power has been enhanced through genetic engineering. CAR-T cell technology itself had already been developed, and while it was highly effective against blood cancers, it was known to be ineffective against solid tumors, which account for the majority of cancers. My research team therefore developed a new technology to improve CAR-T cells and further enhance their aggressive power, making them effective against solid tumors. We realized that universities alone would not be enough to commercialize treatments based on this new technology, so we started our own company. Based on cutting-edge global technology, we are collaborating with major pharmaceutical companies to conduct clinical trials to confirm whether our technology is actually effective as a therapeutic agent.

■We want people who can continue to challenge themselves even after failure.

In the administrative department, people who are well-written in their application documents leave a good impression, and we think, "This person will also be able to handle the job well." Of course, we don't make hiring decisions based on documents alone; we also consider the responses given during the interview.
On the other hand, when it comes to hiring researchers, there are many geniuses, so it's hard to generalize, but if I had to list a condition I would not compromise on, it would be someone who is willing to take on research that others have not done, and who can continue to take on new challenges even if they fail.
Regardless of department, we would love to work with people who are always enthusiastic about their work and who are committed to achieving our mission of "delivering highly effective cancer treatments to cancer patients as quickly as possible."

My dream is to cure as many cancer patients as possible

My goal, which has remained unchanged since I started as a medical intern after graduating from university, is to provide treatment to as many cancer patients as possible. To achieve this, as a company, we will focus on research and technological development, which will result in drug discovery. We aim to create a cycle in which we generate revenue and use that to advance new research, leading to the creation of even more new drugs. Japanese universities have many ideas that can serve as the seeds for new drugs. I would like us to put these ideas into practical use and make Japan's medical development and drug discovery capabilities known to the world. I also want to work hard on my daily research so that we can produce results in our research and development and earn the trust of everyone who uses our company, knowing that it is committed to its business.

■Message to university students

I've been doing this job for over 30 years, but I feel there's still so much more I can do, and that there are so many things I haven't yet tried. I feel this way because I'm undoubtedly attracted to this job. And because research and development is something I enjoy, and I'm in an environment where I can do that work, I'm confident that I can continue doing the same job.
In order to choose such a job, I would like to give advice to university students: "Even if it seems difficult at first glance, it is important to think carefully about its value to you." I also believe that actively taking on challenges with your own will will lead to a richer life.　　

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on October 20, 2023 by Amane Omori, a first-year student at Nihon University