Richard Tanaka, Ph.D.
Founder and CEO
Prior to starting Azee Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Tanaka helped to start Genesoft
Pharmaceuticals and held positions of Vice President of Preclinical Development
(1998-2004) and Principal Investigator for the SMAT research program (1999-2004)
that was funded by DARPA and USAMRMC. From 1991-1997, Dr. Tanaka helped to start Arris
Pharmaceuticals Inc. (later Axys Pharmaceuticals Inc.) where he held positions as
Senior Director of Preclinical Development and Director of Molecular Pharmacology.
At Arris, he was the project leader for the mast cell tryptase program that
advanced the first human tryptase inhibitor into clinical trials and established
clinical proof of concept for this new class of drugs. From 1986 to 1991,
he worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb (Princeton, NJ) as the Section Head for the cholesterol
program that developed and launched the cholesterol-lowering drug, Pravachol®. Dr.
Tanaka received his Ph.D. in Biology/Parasitology in 1980 at the University of
California, Los Angeles. He conducted postgraduate studies on the regulation of
cholesterol biosynthesis at the Department of Medicine, University of California,
Los Angeles. Dr. Tanaka has more than 40 publications in scientific journals and
2 issued US patents.
