Ippei Kurihara joined Santen in 2015 and has served in his current role since September 2022. As the Head of Japan business, he is responsible for the execution of our marketing and sales strategies in Japan, which is Santen’s core market and largest business region.

With his deep understanding of Santen’s values, Ippei supports the Japanese ophthalmology ecosystem by promoting our development pipeline using a patient-centric approach; internally he oversees our sales and marketing structure and leads our contribution to Santen’s global growth.

Prior to his current role, from 2021 Ippei served as Executive Officer and Head of Marketing Department, Japan Sales and Marketing Division. He made a significant contribution to the development and growth of our Japan business by driving product development and marketing strategies from the patient's perspective. He led our business based on his insights into Japanese ophthalmology and knowledge of the broad ophthalmic product areas of prescription pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter drugs and of surgical instruments, which complemented his broad experience of strategic promotion and organizational management.
From 2019 he served as Head of Strategic Planning Department, Japan Business, with responsibility for the integration of the prescription pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare and surgical businesses in Japan. He also oversaw coordination and optimization of the entire Japanese business, leading the formulation of its strategy and development of our mid-term business plans. In 2020, he was also Head of Development and Promotion Division, directing the development of products for the Japan market. From 2018, he was Head of Surgical Development and Strategy, leading product development in conjunction with Santen’s overseas partners at a time of global expansion in this business area. Prior to that, he worked on business strategy and product development in our Surgical business area.

Before joining Santen, Ippei worked in planning at a telecommunications company, then as a consultant in the telecommunications field at A. T. Kearney. He also worked in the organizational and human resources field at Hay Group.

Ippei holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tokyo.