AMRI has hired two experts in medicinal and computational chemistry at its research center located in Hyderabad, India (HRC). Simultaneously, the company has completed the relocation of its custom library synthesis resources and capabilities to HRC from its Budapest, Hungary operations. According to an AMRI statement, “The new hires and relocation of resources provide additional flexibility to enhance productivity and client service for AMRI’s global drug discovery operations, which draw upon a broad spectrum of service capabilities from multiple sites.”

Srinivas Nanduri, Ph.D. was named director of medicinal chemistry in India, reporting to Subramanyam Maddala, president of India Operations. In addition, Suneel Kumar Bommisetty, Ph.D. was named senior research associate of computational chemistry, reporting to Dr. Nanduri. These newly created positions are intended to strengthen AMRI’s capabilities in problem-solving medicinal chemistry and complement its current strength in custom synthesis at HRC.

“Dr. Nanduri and Dr. Bommisetty bring a high level of medicinal chemistry expertise, a strong track record of industry experience and additional drug discovery project management experience to the Hyderabad site,” Mr. Maddala said. “AMRI is committed to providing best-of-class services to our customers, and servicing the entire value chain of contract research services. These additions enhance our capabilities to move towards that target.”

Dr. Nanduri most recently served as research director at Aurigene, where he was responsible for the execution and overall supervision of multiple integrated drug discovery projects, from hit generation through lead optimization. Prior to that, he was a chief scientific manager at Biocon-BMS Research Centre, where he led projects in the therapeutic areas of oncology, obesity and central nervous system disorders. Dr. Nanduri also had worked at Dr. Reddy’s, where he led multiple medicinal chemistry projects in oncology and metabolic disorders, as well as a number of natural products projects in the area of anti-cancer therapy.

Dr. Bommisetty joins AMRI from GVK Biosciences and brings more than eight years of computational chemistry experience to HRC. He began his career as a research associate in 2004 while he obtained his Ph.D. in Computational Chemistry from JNTU. He played a dual role in GVK as a scientific associate and also as a senior faculty in GVK Bio campus, leading theory classes and lab sessions on molecular modeling, homology modeling, structure-based drug design and analog-based drug design.