Yas Saotome, PhD

Yas Saotome is the Vice President of Biologics Development and Manufacturing at Gilead Sciences and is responsible for process and product development, manufacturing, and analytical operations for Gilead’s biologics products.

Prior to joining Gilead in 2016, Saotome was Vice President of Process Development and Analytical Sciences at Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Alexion, from 1994 to 2009, he worked at Shire Pharmaceuticals (formerly Transkaryotic Therapies) where he oversaw the development of the world’s first fully disposable perfusion cell culture process for commercial manufacturing, while leading the development of cell lines and manufacturing processes for Relpagal, Elaprase, and VPRIV. He started his pharmaceutical career at Meiji Seika Pharma in Tokyo, Japan.

Saotome obtained his BS and PhD in Chemistry from the Tokyo Institute of Technology and received his postdoctoral training in molecular biology from Columbia University.