Semler Research Centre US (SRC US) has announced its formation of a new business unit within Arnold A Semler, which also owns SRC India, and the appointment of Dr Nuggehally Srinivas as the President. Srinivas will leverage his expertise to build and develop a business strategy for the seamless execution of a Specialty Pharma vertical which will be designed to assist academics, biotechs, start-ups and VCs in evaluating investment decisions on product selection inclusive of clinical and regulatory strategy. Specialty Pharma will also focus on risk: reward sharing models with collaborating partners within the scope of the chosen therapeutic areas with differentiated products in areas such as oncology, pain/inflammation, and neurosciences among others.
Srinivas is a trained clinical pharmacologist and drug development specialist with over two decades of experience in the pharma industry. In his most recent position, as the CEO of Vanthys Pharmaceutical Development, a JV between Eli Lilly, USA and Jubilant Life Sciences, India, Srinivas led, strategised and operationalised the virtual drug development concept of advancing compounds from a preclinical stage of development to obtain a human proof of concept. Prior to this Srinivas has worked in senior positions at ClinTec International, Dr Reddy Laboratories and Bristol Myers & Squibb, US. Srinivas has participated in several LCM initiatives.
Srinivas was nominated as the fellow of American College of Clinical Pharmacology in 2002. Srinivas is on the editorial board of several international journals including Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, Bioanalysis, Biomedical Chromatography, Current Pharmaceutical Analysis, Asian Journal of Pharmaceutics, Journal of Applied Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics. Srinivas has authored over 200 research articles and reviews that encompasses areas of clinical pharmacology, metabolism/ pharmaco-kinetics, bionalysis and clinical drug development. He has written a book entitled “Drug Development Perspectives: considerations, challenges and strategies” [HNB Publishers, New York, US].
Ronald Semler, Chairman, commented that “We are extremely delighted to have Dr Srinivas on board, since he brings strong scientific, business and operational excellence in the novel drug development space. His contribution to the board will further strengthen our leadership and commitment in the integrated drug development area.”
Ravi Achar, Managing Director and Co-Founder, said, “Dr Srinivas brings in extraordinary skill set that encompasses drug discovery and development of novel chemical entities as well as his proven leadership and entrepreneurial skills. His exposure to virtual drug development concepts and involvement in Specialty products inclusive of 505(b)(2) concepts, would be decisive in building the Specialty Pharma portfolio. We set up SRC US as a new business unit of Arnold A Semler to take advantage of the resources and opportunities in the US. This will also establish a link to Arnold A Semler’s existing division SRC India, its leadership and scientific team to enhance our integrated value proposition to our global clients.”
Speaking on this occasion, Dr Krathish Bopanna, President and CEO, SRC, India, said, “I have known Dr Srinivas for a while and always known him for his ability to make decisions on choosing right candidates for new drug development and the investments that are required. He is a well known clinical pharmacologist and a thought leader in this space. We are sure his addition to SRC will bring significant benefits to our current and new customers”
EP News Bureau – Mumbai