Dr. Yamashita is a Chief Researcher of Biological Res. Labs., Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. He was educated in Japan, receiving his Ph.D. in inflammation biochemistry in 1983 from the University of Tokyo. After joining the Research Labs, Sankyo Co., Ltd. in 1983, he began to specialize in influenza virology as a visiting scientist, and then as an assistant professor from 1986 to 1989 under the tutelage of Dr. Peter Palese at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York. After returning to the company in Japan in 1989, he focused his research in antivirals and anti-allergy compounds. He made a major contribution in discovering CS-8958, a long-acting neuraminidase inhibitor of influenza virus.

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