Dr. Reddy’s drug discovery operations at Hyderabad will be absorbed into Aurigene, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, effective July 1, 2009. As part of the reorganization, the company will close its Atlanta research facility in the U.S.
Aurigene is a partnership based drug discovery biotechnology company headquartered in Bangalore, India. The discovery research resources, employees, facility and infrastructure, will transition into Aurigene, which will now operate from two sites in Bangalore and Hyderabad.
In addition, Dr. Reddy’s will be creating a new group to focus on new product development, which will be responsible for building the proprietary and branded R&D portfolio in collaboration with various partners and service providers. This organization will work with Aurigene and other biotech companies to manage ongoing and future drug discovery programs. This group will also have responsibility for the development portfolio and the company’s differentiated formulations efforts.
G V Prasad, vice chairman and chief executive officer, said, “We have been working at delivering sustained growth with profitability to significantly improve shareholder returns. As we prioritize our company-wide research and development spending, we will now be placing greatest emphasis on R&D activities that can have a significant impact on near-term earnings, while not losing focus on long-term interests of the company.”
The discovery research arm will report into CSN Murthy, chief executive officer, Aurigene. Dr. Rajinder Kumar, president of R&D and commercialization will step down to pursue other interests once the transition is completed, but will continue to advise the proprietary products group beyond July 1, 2009.
Magazine
