Dr. Reddy's Laboratories has appointed Dr. Uday Saxena as the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of the company. Dr. Saxena was the president and CEO of Reddy US Therapeutics Inc. (Reddy US), a biopharmaceutical company and subsidiary of Dr. Reddy's based in Atlanta, US. In his new capacity, he will oversee global R&D activities of Dr.Reddy's, stated a company release.

Announcing the appointment, G. V. Prasad, executive vice chairman and CEO of Dr. Reddy's, said, "Dr. Saxena's appointment as CSO will enable us to create a distinctive global research organization by integrating our research capabilities in India and the US."

Dr. Saxena joined Dr. Reddy's in early 2000 as the head of Reddy US. Dr. Saxena has been instrumental in building a top-notch team of scientists and in setting up a discovery programme focussed on novel therapeutics that address unmet medical needs in diabetes, inflammation and cardiovascular disease.

Reddy US creatively applies state-of-the-art scientific methods to the rapid discovery and design of therapeutics. Its approach focuses on the regulation of gene expression and the protein function of targets that it has determined to be key effectors of these diseases. Currently, the Company has validated three new drug targets in cell proliferation, diabetic vasculopathy and inflammation. In cell proliferation, the Company has a lead compound, for treating restenosis, which has successfully completed proof-of-concept in the animal model.

Dr. Saxena has been in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry for over a decade. Prior to joining Dr. Reddy's, he held several key positions at AtheroGenics, Inc., a publicly traded biopharmaceutical company located in Alpharetta, Georgia and Parke-Davis Research Division, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Dr. Saxena has been an invited speaker at several national and international meetings. He is currently on the editorial board of two drug discovery related Journals and routinely reviews articles for research journals. He is an elected fellow of the Council on Arteriosclerosis, American Heart Association since 1991. He has over 45 full publications in peer-reviewed journals. He is also an inventor and has to his credit several patents related to cardiovascular disease and inflammation. He received his PhD from Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada and was a post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University in New York, the release said.