Dr. Norton P Peet : former vice president of Discovery Alliances, part of ArQule, a Woburn; Massachusetts based drug Discovery Company, joins as chief executive officer in Aurigene Discovery Technologies, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Hyderabad with effect from April 1, 2002.

In ArQule, Dr. Peet was responsible in managing external alliances and building an internal drug discovery organization. A distinguished scientist, he was the Head of Medicinal Chemistry at Aventis, a leading multinational pharmaceutical company. Dr. Peet, who serves on several editorial boards, e is a scientific advisor for Drug Discovery Technology and for the IBC USA Conferences Board.

Madhusudan Agrawal : joint managing director of Ajanta Pharma has been appointed as the chairman of India Mauritius Joint Business Council for two years. He has been appointed by FICCI and ASSCHAM as Chairman of India Kyrghyzstan Joint Business Council and India -Peru Joint Business Council. Agrawal, a graduate in science is a man of vision and strong determination. He has associated with Ajanta Pharma for the last twenty-five years of its existence.

He has contributed immensely to the nourishment and consolidation of the company, which has established a name in the domestic healthcare sector with a range of healthcare products, pharmaceuticals and bulk drugs. Ajanta Pharma has set up joint ventures in Mauritius, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrghyzstan to manufacture pharmaceuticals and healthcare products with its in-house technology. He is also a patron of fine arts.

Atul Malhotra : has joined Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd as Head-Global OTC & Regional Director (Middle East). An electrical engineer from IIT Kanpur, Malhotra has managed various businesses such as animal feed, detergents, personal products, foods and beverages in a career spanning 24 years with Hindustan Lever.

Sanjeev Dani : who has served as Marketing Director- Xian Janssen, China and Vice President - Sales and Marketing of India operations of Johnson & Johnson (Janssen-Cilag Pharmaceuticals) has joined RLL as Director-Pharma Marketing. In his nearly 18 years of experience, he has also worked for Searle India Ltd. and Lupin Laboratories Ltd..

Lalit Ahluwalia : has joined the company yesterday as Director-Business Finance Ahluwalia brings with him work experience of 24 years with ITC Limited, Pepsi Foods Limited and Gillette India Limited. Ahluwalia holds a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce from St.Xaviers College, Calcutta and is an Associate member of the Institute of Chartered Management Accountants, England.

Udai Upendra : has joined the Company as Vice-President-Global Human Resources. An alumni of XLRI, Upendra brings with him over 24 years of experience with organisations such as Godfrey Phillips, Hindustan Lever and Colgate Palmoliveo.

B. B. Sharma : former director, Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC), and senior officer in the Maharashtra I A S cadre, has been appointed commissioner, Food and Drug Administration, Maharashtra. Sharma takes over the post after the exit of B K Agarwal, who was shifted to General Administration, Government of Maharashtra, in the first week of this month.

Sharma is currently a senior official in the Maharashtra Civil Service in the rank of Additional Secretary. The new commissioner, who was with ECGC prior to this appointment, is learnt to be new to the field of drug control administration even as the post is expected to have a great responsibility as far as the fresh stipulations in the drug trade as well as quality production standards are concerned. While speaking to pharmabiz.com, on the first day in his new post, Sharma said that he is currently in the process of going through the files and case studies to have a better understanding of the area.

Former commissioner of the state FDA B K Agarwal was transferred to the State General Administration with immediate effect. Agarwal, who has taken charge as additional chief secretary, General Administration, Government of Maharashtra, on 31st March, was also asked to take additional charge of State FDA since the post was vacant till the appointment of Sharma.

B K Agarwal IAS, who served almost two years in the position of commissioner, FDA, Maharashtra, was appointed to this post on 16th June 1999. During the two years tenure as commissioner- FDA, Agarwal was instrumental in implementation of various new drug control rules in the state and in few controversies in connection with drug approvals and related issues.