Rakuten Medical opens two new offices as it expands global presence

Rakuten Medical, headed by Rakuten Chairman and CEO Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani, has announced the opening of two new offices as it boosts its global footprint.

The firm’s primary operational focus is on “Conquering Cancer” through the development of precision-targeted cancer therapies using its own photoimmunotherapy (PIT) platform.

Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Taipei, Taiwan, the new offices will strengthen Rakuten’s position in those and neighbouring markets.

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"Rakuten Medical is poised to become a fully integrated biotechnology company, and we are gearing up to build and commercialize a strong pipeline of anti-cancer therapies based on our proprietary photoimmunotherapy platform," said Mikitani in the firm’s press release.

"Expanding our presence in Europe and Asia is critical for us to deliver upon our mission of conquering cancer, and delivering safe and effective treatments that could transform and improve the lives of patients globally."

Mikitani founded Rakuten Medical following the diagnosis of his father’s pancreatic cancer in 2012. His father’s illness triggered Mikitani’s inspiration to pursue PIT research which, at the time, was still in its early research stage.