Astellas’ banner year and focused R&D strategy, with Adam Pearson

Prostate cancer drug Xtandi has anchored Astellas’ highest ever sales year, but with loss of exclusivity looming the Japanese pharma company is looking to shore up its portfolio.

In a wide-ranging sit down during JP Morgan Week in San Francisco, Astellas' chief strategy officer Adam Pearson walked pharmaphorum editor-in-chief Jonah Comstock through the company’s four-pillared R&D strategy to achieve that goal, and the four lead assets with major readouts coming this year, including a cell therapy and a gene therapy.

They also discuss the optimistic deal environment at JPM and what Astellas is looking for as a buyer; the current situation in gene therapy and why it’s still a space worth investing in, and how Astellas is thinking about the uncertainty inherent in US policy this year.

Finally, Pearson talks about the importance of focusing down while still keeping an open mind toward the exciting evolving modalities that define biopharma today.

Watch the full video for a peak behind the curtain at a major mid-sized pharma.