DA Prasanna has taken charge as chairman and managing director (CMD) of Bangalore-based Manipal Acunova Limited, the subsidiary of Ecron Acunova GmbH and Acunova Life Sciences. He was formerly vice chairman of the company, and has been handed the reigns of chairmanship from Dr Ramdas Pai.

Commenting on the development, Dr Pai said, “In the last five years, Manipal Acunova has grown from a start-up to a successful and stable CRO. Starting services as a clinical trials lab in 2005 and Bio Availability/Bio Equivalence (BA/BE) services in our cancer hospital, the company has grown its services in India, established presence in Europe, and has gained reputation for its quality of services.”

Manipal Acunova is a CRO founded by Prasanna and Manipal Group, offers clinical research services to pharmaceutical, biotech, nutritional, device and medical diagnostic companies.

Lupin appoints Paul McGarty as president
Lupin has appointed Paul McGarty as president of its US subsidiary, Lupin Pharmaceuticals. He has over 25 years of experience in the pharma industry.  Most recently, as the CEO of Nycomed US, he successfully transformed the company into a dermatology specialty company with a generic business.

Avesthagen appoints Sudhir Kant as COO
Sudhir Kant has been appointed as the new chief operating officer (COO) of Avesthagen, an integrated systems biology platform company in India. For the past 25 years, he has worked for US biosupplier company, Millipore, and was heading the company’s Indian operations, as president, since the year 2000.


Atul Sobti steps down as CEO, MD of Ranbaxy
Atul Sobti, CEO and managing director of Ranbaxy, has resigned from his posts, with effect from August 19, 2010. Arun Sawhney, president, Global Pharmaceutical Business, Ranbaxy, has been appointed as the new managing director of the company, effective from August 20, 2010.

Furthermore, the board of the company expressed its appreciation to Sobti’s efforts during his tenure as CEO and MD, and also for building upon the strong legacy of Ranbaxy as a premier global company.

Sawhney, has over three decades of global experience with leading Indian and global pharmaceutical companies, and has held the role of president of Global Pharmaceuticals Business, at Ranbaxy, since January 2010.