Sai Life Sciences, one of India’s fastest growing contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), has appointed Dr. Dean Edney as senior vice president and global head of process research and development. An accomplished scientific leader and industry veteran with over 25 years of experience in small molecule pharmaceutical process and product development, Dr. Edney will split his time between the company’s R&D center in Hyderabad, India and the new R&D facility in Alderley Park, Manchester, UK.
 
“We are delighted to welcome Dean on board Sai Life Sciences as we open our new process R&D facility in Manchester, UK,” said Krishna Kanumuri, chief executive officer, Sai Life Sciences. “His joining strengthens our vision of creating a world-class, global process R&D organization that applies cutting edge scientific approaches and technology to rapidly deliver high-quality scientific output irrespective of the geographical location.”
 
As part of its organization-wide transformation initiative, Sai Nxt, the company says it aspires to enhance its Process Research & Development (PR&D) capability allowing customers to accelerate their research and development programs and deliver commercial products through the rapid application of high quality science to all areas of API process research, development and manufacturing. Its plan is to achieve this by combining expertise in rapid, cost effective, process optimization and scale-up in Hyderabad with expertise in application of new technology and parallel and statistical approaches to process development in Manchester into a single global PR&D organisation.
 
Previously, over a 25-year career at GlaxoSmithKline, Dr. Edney demonstrated a strong track record of cross-functional leadership to deliver projects and develop capability across all phases of API process research & development, from early non-clinical supply and route scouting through to validation of commercial control strategies.