Takashi Nagao Appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Medicago
4.12.2020 19:00:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
Medicago, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Quebec City, Canada, today announced Takashi Nagao as the company’s new President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to becoming President and CEO, Mr. Nagao served as the Chairman of the Board of Medicago, where for the last four years, he has guided Medicago executives to get the company to where it is today.
Medicago, a research and development company for the last 20 years, is embarking on a transformative year, one that will see the company build on its R&D roots to become a company that also produces and commercializes vaccines and other immunotherapies. Mr. Nagao has extensive experience leading pharmaceutical companies through the pre-commercial and commercial process and is well positioned to ensure the successful launch of Medicago’s COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, subject to regulatory approvals. Mr. Nagao will continue Medicago’s evolution towards its goal of being a fully operational commercial entity, able to respond to the needs of the global public health community and medical authorities and professionals.
“Taking on this new role with Medicago during this exciting time is a great honour for me,” said Mr. Nagao, President and Chief Executive Officer, Medicago. “I want our employees, investors, and stakeholders such as the Government of Canada to know that I will put all my efforts into seeing our COVID-19 and influenza vaccines through to a successful launch to protect as many people as possible.”
From 2007 to 2017, Mr. Nagao oversaw the establishment of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation’s U.S. presence and led the team that successfully achieved NDA of RADICAVA®, the first FDA-approved drug in over 20 years for the patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Prior to that, Mr. Nagao was a Managing Director in investment banking at J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank where he was responsible for global clients and leading equity and cross-border M&A transactions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector in North America, Japan and Europe. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mr. Nagao succeeds Dr. Bruce D. Clark, who held the position of President and CEO of Medicago since 2017 and was instrumental in the development of Medicago’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Medicago recently announced the start of Phase 2/3 clinical trial of its plant-derived VLP vaccine candidate for COVID-19 to evaluate its efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity, based on the positive Phase 1 results and subsequent allowance to advance to Phase 2/3 by the Canadian regulatory authorities. The company is also building a new facility in Quebec to increase Canada’s domestic capacity for manufacturing vaccines, producing up to a billion doses annually.
“Medicago is at an inflection point. We are moving from a research and development focused organization to become a commercial entity supplying vaccines to Canadians and people around the world,” said Mr. Nagao.
About Medicago
Medicago is a biopharmaceutical company and pioneer in plant-derived therapeutics. Founded in 1999 with the belief that innovative approaches and rigorous research would bring new solutions in healthcare.
Our mission is to improve global health outcomes by leveraging innovative plant-based technologies for rapid responses to emerging global healthcare challenges. Medicago is committed to advancing therapeutics against life-threatening diseases worldwide. Our team includes over 450 scientific experts and employees in Canada and the United States and academic affiliations in Europe and South Africa.
Medicago has previously demonstrated its capability to be a first responder in a flu pandemic. In 2009, the company produced a research-grade vaccine candidate against H1N1 in just 19 days. In 2012, Medicago manufactured 10 million doses of a monovalent influenza vaccine candidate within one month for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), part of the U.S. Department of Defense. In 2015, Medicago also demonstrated in principle that it could rapidly produce an anti-Ebola monoclonal antibody cocktail for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
For more information: www.medicago.com
To learn more about our plant-based technology: Video / Website
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201204005409/en/
Contact information
Media contact (English):
Alissa Von Bargen
+1-647-234-5975
Alissa.VonBargen@gcicanada.com
Media contact (French):
Guillaume Bérubé
+ 1 514 883-5948
gberube@tactconseil.ca
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Follow-on Order Brings Orders from INNIO Data Center Customer to 1.72 GW, Further Strengthening INNIO’s Data Center Backlog and Revenue Visibility22.10.2026 15:30:00 EEST | Press release
INNIO N.V. (Nasdaq: INIO) today announced a 620 megawatt (MW) follow-on order from a leading developer and operator of mega-scale data center campuses in the U.S. Together with the customer’s 1.1 gigawatt (GW) order announced in July 2026, the new order brings cumulative orders from the customer to approximately 1.72 GW, further strengthening INNIO’s order backlog and visibility into future revenues. “This follow-on order, coming just months after the customer’s initial 1.1 GW order, underscores the strength of customer demand and continued confidence in INNIO. Our containerized Jenbacher solutions deliver what data centers need most: fast deployment, high power density, fuel efficiency, and the performance to support demanding AI workloads,” said Dr. Olaf Berlien, President and CEO of INNIO. “Repeat orders of this scale, combined with long-term service agreements, strengthen our backlog and expand the services base that underpins our business model,” added Dr. Berlien. All 620 MW will
European Public Transport Budgets Require 36% Annual Spending Increase by 2035, Arthur D. Little and Polis Research Finds22.10.2026 15:30:00 EEST | Press release
Europe’s public transport sector currently accounts for €130 billion in annual expenditure, yet faces a growing funding gap as demand rises and environmental and resilience requirements intensify. New research from Arthur D. Little (ADL)’s Future of Mobility Lab and POLIS, a network of European cities and regions collaborating to develop innovative and sustainable urban transport solutions, outlines the scale of this financial shortfall and provides radical recommendations for overcoming it. Based on research with senior transport and policymakers, in-depth literature reviews, and real-world data from Paris, London, Amsterdam, Berlin and New York, the report estimates that additional spending will require a 36% increase in overall annual expenditure from now to 2035 onwards. This is made up of a 13% rise in operating expenditure (OPEX) and 56% in capital expenditure (CAPEX), driven by: Hidden debt caused by historic underinvestment in existing infrastructure (6% of additional funding n
Hitachi Report Examines Readiness for Physical AI in Industrial Companies22.10.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501, "Hitachi") announced the release of its physical AI survey-based research report, Beyond the Pilot: Industry’s Physical AI Progression. The company surveyed over 200 global decision-makers from organizations operating in mission-critical industrial sectors including energy, manufacturing, transportation and logistics. The report explores how businesses today adopt AI in industrial use-cases, where they see the greatest value, and what it will take to scale toward physical AI deployments. Readers will gain practical insights on how to accelerate AI adoption while improving competitiveness, productivity, and long-term business performance. After successfully transforming knowledge work, AI is now entering the physical systems that form society’s backbone: energy, industrial, and mobility infrastructure, to name a few. Given these systems’ reliability, safety, and regulatory requirements, there is no room for AI hallucinations. In short, AI technology applied to t
Datavault AI Signs Non-Binding Letter of Intent to Acquire a 19.9% Equity Stake in DataMEDS AI in Consideration of an Expanded Technology License22.10.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Datavault AI Inc. (“Datavault AI” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: DVLT), an Artificial Intelligence Platform (“AIP”) company providing data monetization, credentialing, and real-world asset (“RWA”) tokenization, today announced that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent (“LOI”) to acquire a 19.9% equity interest in DataMEDS AI, Inc. (NASDAQ: MEDS) (“DataMEDS”) in consideration of an expansion of its existing technology license with DataMEDS. The proposed transaction is subject to completion of due diligence and negotiation of definitive agreements and will be subject to customary closing conditions for a transaction of this nature. The proposed transaction is structured to provide Datavault AI with the opportunity to obtain an equity interest in DataMEDS while preserving ownership of its underlying intellectual property. In exchange for expanding its existing technology license, Datavault AI expects to receive a 19.9% equity interest in DataMEDS on a fully diluted basis, with t
Megaport Expands AWS Connectivity With AWS Interconnect to Simplify How Customers Connect Their Infrastructure22.10.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Megaport Limited (ASX: MP1) (“Megaport”), a leading global automated infrastructure platform, today announced support for AWS Interconnect, a new managed connection model from Amazon Web Services (AWS) designed to simplify how businesses connect their infrastructure to AWS. AWS Interconnect from Megaport gives enterprises and AI infrastructure providers an automated connectivity option as their requirements grow beyond traditional AWS Hosted Connections. MACsec encryption and four redundant links across two sites will be included as part of the service at general availability, with customers able to select connection speeds from 1 Gbps to 100 Gbps. Customers can start an order for AWS Interconnect - last mile from either the Megaport Portal or AWS Management Console and complete it from the other. AWS and Megaport then automate the underlying network configuration, including VLANs, IP subnets, MTU, and BGP. This removes the need for customers to arrange the port, letter of authorizatio
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom