Kyowa Kirin names Abdul Mullick as CEO effective March 2026

Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd. (TSE: 4151) announced that its board of directors has appointed Abdul Mullick as president and chief executive officer, effective March 2026 following the company's ordinary general meeting of shareholders.

Mullick, who currently serves as president and chief operating officer, will replace Masashi Miyamoto as CEO. Miyamoto will remain as chairman of the Japanese pharmaceutical company.

The appointment follows a dual CEO/COO leadership structure implemented in March 2025, when shareholders approved Mullick's appointment to the newly created COO role. The company stated this transition period allowed Mullick to gain understanding of the Japanese organization as the first non-Japanese CEO in the company's history.

Mullick joined Kyowa Kirin in 2017 and previously served as president of the Europe/Middle East/Africa region before relocating to Japan in 2023. He was nominated as COO in October 2024 and confirmed in March 2025. Prior to Kyowa Kirin, he held leadership positions at pharmaceutical companies including Sanofi and Novartis.

The company said the return to a single leader structure aims to create a more agile management approach for responding to global business environment changes. Mullick will focus on executing the company's Vision for 2030 in bone/mineral, intractable hematological diseases/hemato-oncology, and rare diseases.

Mullick holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Bristol and a bachelor's degree in molecular biology from Kingston University. He will be based at the company's Tokyo headquarters.

The information is based on a company press release.

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