Integrated Drug Discovery

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.

With over two decades of expertise in leading large-scale customer service outsourcing operations, Sridhar has delivered high-quality services that have earned the trust and loyalty of his clients. He has a proven track record of scaling up teams across different locations and developing effective leaders. He is skilled in setting and achieving financial goals and driving teams to excel. His operational focus on financial metrics contributed to a successful acquisition outcome.

Sridhar enjoys playing golf and following various sports in his spare time.

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.

James, in his role as Director of Business Development, brings demonstrated technical expertise and business acumen to LAXAI. With over fifteen years of experience in CDMO business development, he possesses a deep understanding of the commercialization process and a proven track record of successfully completed campaigns and satisfied customers in both the pharmaceutical and specialty chemical sectors. Prior to joining LAXAI, James played a significant role in the growth of several CDMOs, including Dottikon Exclusive Synthesis, Archimica, Rohner AG, and Olon SpA.

James holds a Ph.D. in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from the Ohio State University, USA. Additionally, James is a member of the American Chemical Society.

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.

Nick is a medicinal chemists with 40 years of experience at Bristol Myers Squibb where hed led drug discovery programs in the cardiovascular, neurosciences and virology therapeutic areas, work that resulted in the advancement of 33 clinical candidates. Nick and his team were involved in the design and development of flindokalner (MaxiPost®) (P3 for the treatment of stroke), the HIV-1 attachment inhibitor fostemsavir (RukobiaTM), the HIV-1 maturation inhibitors BMS-955176, fipravirimat and zegruvirimat, the HCV NS5A inhibitor daclatasvir (DaklinzaTM), the HCV NS3 protease inhibitors BMS-605339 and asunaprevir (SunvepraTM), and the HCV NS5B inhibitor beclabuvir, marketed as XymencyTM, a fixed dose combination with daclatasvir and asunaprevir.

Nick has authored/co-authored more than 300 publications, review articles, book chapters and editorials and 205 meeting abstracts and presented more than 180 invited lectures at National and International meetings, Universities and Schools on Medicinal Chemistry. He is named as an inventor/co-inventor of 144 issued U.S. Patents. Nick has organized/co-organized more than 60 sessions at National and International Meetings, ACS Webinars in Drug Discovery, ACS Prospectives Meetings and Short Courses on aspects of drug design. He is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry with co-responsibility for Perspectives articles.

Nick was the recipient of the 2015 Philip S. Portoghese Medicinal Chemistry Lectureship Award administered jointly by the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry and the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. He was Inducted into the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame in 2015, was the co-recipient of “Heroes of Chemistry” Awards sponsored by the American Chemical Society in 2017 and 2023, and was the recipient of the 2022 Alfred Burger Award in Medicinal Chemistry sponsored by the American Chemical Society. He was appointed a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in August, 2022.

Nick received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Sheffield under the supervision of Dr. D. Neville Jones and competed a post-doctoral fellowship with Professor Carl R. Johnson at Wayne State University.

Subramanyam Maddala is a distinguished professional with over 35 years in the Pharma API sector. He has a rich background in Technology Transfer, Process Development, and Plant Operations, among other areas. His career highlights include developing three Greenfield sites, including an ONCO facility, and winning a DST award for Vit B6 process technology from NCL Pune. Maddala also developed a cost-effective continuous flow reaction for Valacyclovir, earning a US Patent. He held several leadership roles, including President of API Operations at Aurobindo Pharma Ltd., and pivotal positions at Curia, Salora, and Piramal Pharma Ltd. At Piramal, he managed Generics, CDMO, and Critical Care business, and was involved in M&A activities. Maddala holds a postgraduate degree in Applied Chemistry from M.S. University of Baroda and completed a Senior Management Program at IIM Kolkata.