Company Profile

Rakuten Aspyrian, Inc., is a privately funded clinical stage biotechnology company with offices in the USA, Japan and Germany. Since 2013, Rakuten Aspyrian has been developing new anticancer therapies based on the Photoimmunotherapy platform. Rakuten Aspyrian plans to become a fully integrated biopharma with research, development, and world-wide commercialization of therapies based on the Photoimmunotherapy platform.

Our long-term objective is to commercialize a number of therapies based on Photoimmunotherapy to treat a broad range of solid tumor types as single agent and in combination with other immunomodulatory agents to generate robust and long lasting anticancer immunological responses.

Rakuten Aspyrian is currently sponsoring a global Phase 3 multicenter clinical study for ASP-1929 to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ASP-1929 in patients with recurrent Head and Neck Cancer and additional Phase 2 studies to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ASP-1929 in patients with other cancer types.

Given the rapid progression of the clinical studies we are quickly expanding the team to support late stage pivotal clinical development and future commercialization of our products.

Position Summary

The Director, Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs) is accountable for implementing and actively managing the Rakuten Aspyrian MSL team. He/she is responsible for establishing and maintaining professional relationships with the thought leaders, external healthcare customers and key internal colleagues to communicate scientific and clinical information. The candidate will create and maintain business processes and lead key strategic, cross-functional projects.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

  • Recruit, hire and retain a qualified, high-functioning MSL team
  • Directly supervise and manage the MSL team by encouraging MSL development and well as managing individual and team performance
  • Define the strategic direction for the MSL team and ensures alignment with medical affairs and corporate initiatives
  • Support MSL team with the identification and maintenance of relations with national and regional and medical and scientific key opinion leaders (KOLs)
  • Oversee and ensure the highest scientific standard and expertise across the MSL team to establish strong peer-to-peer collaborations and professional relationships
  • Support the team in engaging in scientific exchange and education about current and emerging therapies in a compliant fashion
  • Provide medical presentations to both internal and external audiences within legal, compliance and regulatory guidelines
  • Provide ongoing field updates and insights including competitive intelligence to internal stakeholders
  • Assist the team in partnering with Medical Affairs colleagues to deliver accurate medical and scientific information `
  • Work with Medical Affairs colleagues as appropriate on activities that may include advisory boards, speaker training, and development of scientific slides for topics of interest
  • Create, execute and maintain of SOPs and guidances for the MSL function
  • Develop MSL appropriate metrics to assess and track the success of the MSL team and function
  • Manage overall MSL budget and the administrative aspects of the team (e.g. approval of expense reports, database entries)
  • Provide appropriate mentoring and coaching to direct reports with respect to technical skills, business acumen/planning, and effective regional management
  • Develop and maintain scientific, clinical and therapeutic expertise in the disease states of interest
  • Work with cross-functional internal stakeholders to prepare the marketplace for products in development
  • Other duties as assigned

Desired Education, Skills and Experience

  • Doctoral degree (PhD, PharmD, or MD) required
  • Minimum of 7 years’ experience as a MSL with 3+ years’ experience managing a MSL group (full MSL function and/or regional or disease teams)
  • Four + years prior working experience in oncology
  • A well-established KOL oncology network is strongly preferred
  • Proven track record of success, especially in the areas of establishing and maintaining thought leader relationships, territory planning, and integration with other field roles
  • Demonstrated ability to comprehend complex scientific, medical, and emergent business issues and modify regional commercial meetings accordingly
  • Successful record of managing large and complex projects with minimal oversight
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills, both oral and written
  • Excellent ability in searching and interpreting medical literature
  • Strong understanding of industry and regulatory guidelines pertinent to appropriately interaction with healthcare professionals and other customers in a compliance manner
  • Estimated travel ~40%

We are proud to offer a competitive compensation plan with an excellent benefits package including flexible time off, stock options, 401k, medical, dental, vision plans and more.

Rakuten Aspyrian Inc. is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills.

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