Astellas announced the promotions of James Kellerman to senior vice president and head of Intellectual Property (IP) Legal, reporting to Linda Friedman, executive vice president and Astellas General Counsel; and Dr. Peter Sandor to senior vice president Primary Focus Lead Immuno-Oncology, reporting to Naoki Okamura, chief strategy officer in Tokyo, Japan. Additionally, Michael Rafa has been appointed to senior vice president, head of IP Innovation and New Technologies. Rafa will also report to Okamura. These new appointments will be effective April 1, 2019. Kellerman joined Astellas in 2014, and has nearly 30 years of broad IP and industry experience in the pharmaceutical industry as well as experience in other roles early in his career. Prior to Astellas, Kellerman worked at GlaxoSmithKline in the IP department in the US, as well as in China. Previously, he was the corporate intellectual property counsel for Sepracor Inc. Michael Rafa rejoins Astellas from Haug Partners, LLP in New York where he was a Partner for two years. Prior to this role, he served as Vice President and Chief Patent Counsel at Ophthotech Corporation. Rafa has nearly 30 years of experience in developing and executing IP strategies for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He previously worked at Astellas from April 2012-2014 as Vice President and Chief Patent Counsel, and prior to Astellas was part of Astellas' acquisition of OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc. In Immuno-Oncology, Dr. Sandor will be responsible for developing and executing the roadmap for Astellas' Immuno-Oncology strategy.