Novartis Vet Joins CDMO Sai Life Sciences

Sai Life Sciences, one of India's fastest growing contract research, development and manufacturing organizations (CRDMOs), has appointed Mahavir Prashad, an acknowledged scientific leader and industry veteran, to its scientific leadership team as vice president of early phase process development. With over three decades of experience in advanced research, and roles of increasing responsibility in one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, Dr. Prashad will provide impetus to Sai Life Sciences' growing capabilities and help accelerate the drug development programs of its customers.

"We see Early Phase Process Development as a key pivot in compressing the time to market of our clients' drug development programs,” said Krishna Kanumuri, chief executive officer and managing director, Sai Life Sciences. “This priority has now received significant momentum with the joining of Dr. Prashad. His deep scientific expertise and rich experience of managing outsourced drug development programs will no doubt be a valuable addition as we strive to build a world class delivery engine."

Dr. Prashad is a recognized leader in chemical process R&D and leveraging green chemistry principles and modern technologies in API synthesis. He possesses an excellent scientific track record through 94 publications, 4 review articles, 1 book chapter, 71 patent/applications, and 10 invited lectures at scientific conferences. He was awarded Novartis Leading Scientist award in 2002 and also the 2010 Diversity & Inclusion award of the Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Dr. Prashad has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Central Drug Research Institute in Lucknow, India and was awarded a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at Duke University in North Carolina.

Sai Life Sciences is currently amid an organization-wide transformation. It is investing $150 million during 2019-23, as part of the Sai Nxt initiative, across three core areas—people and culture, processes and automation, infrastructure and scientific capabilities.