Analytical R&D

Vamsi Maddipatla is the Chairman and Managing Director of LAXAI. He is a visionary and an entrepreneur with 17 years of experience in technology and bio-pharma industries. He is also the Founder and ex-CEO of LAXAI Pharma Ltd. – a clinical data services company based in NJ, USA and was associated with Pfizer, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson and Deloitte.

Vamsi provides a unique blend of operational and financial experience along with a strong and expansive network of key influencers, industry experts and financial partners. He delivers a visionary understanding of Customer challenges and opportunities, and the instinctive ability to facilitate collaboration between the right people to turn strategic concepts into actionable plans and ultimately into business results.

Ram Upadhayaya, CEO of LAXAI, brings with him more than two decades of R&D experience spanning both academia and industry. A PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Ram has held key positions with leading international drug discovery organizations such as Bioimics AB, Sweden and Lupin, India. Apart from his industrial background, Ram has been deeply associated with academic research. He was associated with Institute of Molecular Medicine, India as Principal Scientist as well as Uppsala University, Sweden in the capacity of Assistant Professor (Forskare). During these stints he significantly contributed to the development of novel therapeutics against infectious diseases such as AIDS and TB.

Ram has 10 international patents to his credit and has authored 25 peer reviewed publications. He is concurrently a consultant to the scientific advisory committee of the Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India.

Kishore Renduchintala has over 23 year of experience in Drug discovery, Development and cGMP manufacturing. Held various leadership positions in top CROs in India and added immense value to multinational companies in US, Europe and Japan in their drug discovery and development programs. Advanced several programs from lead identification to pre-clinical development to clinical stages, in Virology, Metabolic disorders, Oncology and CNS.

His key strengths are building long term scientific collaborations with big pharma as well as small biotech companies. He was one of key group leaders instrumental in establishing strong research collaboration with BMS which finally culminated into setting up of Biocon -Bristol Myers Squibb research Center (BBRC) in Bangalore. Kishore has proven scientific track record with several patents in Virology, Metabolic disorders & Oncology and publications in peer reviewed journals such as Nature-Cell Biology, Angew Chem., JPET, etc.

Ramesh Mullangi brings about 25+ Years of experience in Drug Metabolism, Pharmacokinetics and Toxicology. He was previously associated with Jubilant Biosys Limited and Dr. Reddy’s Research Foundation in India.

He has a key expertise in leading integrated drug discovery programs across diverse therapeutic areas and filed INDs for over 10 NCEs. He authored over 250+ publications, posters, reviews and patents. He serves as the Editorial Advisory Board member for Bioanalysis and Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis journals and Reviewer Panel member for Current Pharmaceutical Analysis journal.

Rob brings with him a diverse experience of more than 20+ years of business operations, commercial experience and a consistent track record of leading and motivating high performing teams within the Pharmaceutical/Biotech R&D and CMO/CDMO sectors. Prior to joining LAXAI, he worked for various companies in a senior leadership capacities where he consistently demonstrated success in developing and executing strategic initiatives that resulted in driving revenue and increasing profits for those organizations. Under his leadership as CEO of Pharmacore ( a CDMO company) he scaled the business multi-fold which was then acquired by Cambrex.

Ganesh Venkatraman brings about 15+ years of Experience in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries. He has built, led and managed business teams across geographies covering various portfolios. His focus is to identify critical business drivers across global markets and in accordance with changing market dynamics.

He was previously associated with Piramal Pharma Solutions, Jubilant Biosys Limited and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories. Ganesh holds a Master degree in Business Administration and Bachelors in Engineering.

An experienced professional Chief Executive, who has delivered growth and earnings for a number of companies in the UK, Italy, and Spain over the last 35 years. The ability to work in diverse cultures, take tough decisions, and turn the companies into solid growth companies has been his expertise over the years. Mark has jointly headed an UK 250 FTSE PLC as well as worked inside multinationals and been part of Private Equity Owned companies. The last 20 years has seen him manage and grow a company in development/manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients/fine chemicals in the Biotech and Pharmaceutical/Generic sectors. Since 2008, Mark had concentrated on the biotech sector where start up chemical development has been key to growth. A spin off from this strategy has been the contract development of pheromones for a US start-up company that has culminated in the launching of a number of pheromones for the rice, wheat, and soft fruit sectors. A genetics graduate, Mark currently holds the position of CEO at a UK based Agtech start up, SugaROx and a number of non-executive director roles in the life science space.

Nikhil Puri has over 20 years of experience serving the pharmaceutical industry. Nikhil has held senior positions within the pharma industry and as a healthcare investment banker. Most recently prior to joining Signet as a Managing Director in Signet Fund IV, Nikhil was responsible for worldwide business development of the Global Established Pharmaceuticals ("GEP") business at Pfizer that encompasses a broad portfolio (annual revenues of c. $25 bn) of legacy brands, sterile injectables, generics and bio-similars. During his five-year tenure at Pfizer, a number of key inorganic growth initiatives were consummated for GEP including the acquisitions of Hospira, Innopharma and Nextwave Pharmaceuticals within the United States as well as several international transactions, including in Latin America, Japan and China. Nikhil was a member of both Pfizer's Business Development leadership team and the GEP leadership team and Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Nikhil spent 15 years as an investment banker in the United States and in Asia at firms including Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, predominantly focused on the pharmaceutical sector. During that time period he was involved in the consummation of over 50 capital raising and strategic advisory transactions with an aggregate value exceeding $20 bn for clients including Endo Pharmaceuticals, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and MedPointe. Nikhil received his Masters of Business Administration from New York University. He has a bachelor's degree in commerce from the University of Mumbai and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

John is a pharmaceutical process R&D professional with 40 years of experience in global leadership roles including a variety of executive positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Honeywell, Schering-Plough, Wyeth, Pfizer and, most recently, as CEO of Porton USA, a US subsidiary of Porton Pharma Solutions, a China-based CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization). John served as the Vice President of New Products Process Development at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals where he was responsible for building a global group to develop and commercialize new products from the Wyeth Pipeline based on the principles of Quality by Design (QbD). After the acquisition of Wyeth by Pfizer, he served as the Vice President of API Technology leading a diverse group of process chemists, analysts and engineers responsible for second gen process development including use of chemical, engineering and biocatalytic technology for API production. John earned a B.S. (magna cum laude) from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from SUNY Binghamton.