Astellas CEO: A logical idealist

With Japanese drugmakers continuing their global shopping spree, it's probably long past time to get to know their leadership. But with a profile of Astellas Pharma CEO Masafumi Nogimori--who just launched a hostile takeover of U.S. drugmaker OSI Pharmaceuticals--Reuters goes some way toward catching us up. (It also lets us know that Eisai chief Haruo Naito's nickname is "Emperor," and that Takeda CEO Yasuchika Hasegawa is broadly feared.)

The potential OSI deal, at $3.5 billion, would be Astellas' biggest ever. So it's Nogimori's moment in the spotlight, and plenty of industry types are willing to dish. He's a "logical person ... an ordinary man," Credit Suisse analyst Fumiyoshi Sakai tells the news service. He has a bashful smile and can eschew the usual CEO-speak in favor of "totally unexpected jokes," one Astellas staffer says.

Nogimori is also a true believer in the good works pharmaceuticals can do. Despite daunting odds that he freely acknowledges, he's hoping that his company's "endless effort" can yield new medicines "that can satisfy unmet medical needs," as he said last year. "I hope for such an unknown miracle."

- read the Reuters profile

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