Dr Meenakshi Sivakumar, associate director (chemistry manufacturing and control) of Piramal Life Sciences has been awarded the 'OPPI Scientist Award' for the year 2008 for her research in cancer drug discovery. The 'OPPI Scientist Award' has been instituted to honour outstanding research scientists working in India and to encourage others to undertake, novel and innovative research.

Dr Swati Piramal, director, Piramal Group, stated, "This is a highly significant achievement for the Piramal Life Sciences Limited (PLSL) research fraternity. We have the best people/talent pool who adhere to the corporate values of knowledge, action and care: knowledge and learning; with action that encourage a spirit of entrepreneurism and care and compassion that aims to better the society that we operate in are working hard to fullfil our mission of reducing the burden of disease. It is my hope that in the future other scientists from PLSL will also be recognized for their pathbreaking work and commitment to society."

Dr Somesh Sharma, Piramal Lifesciences, says, "This is a highly significant achievement for the PLSL because of the rigorous selection criteria by a committee of distinguished scientists and competition not only from other research based pharmaceutical companies but also from academic institutions in India. It is a testimonial to world class drug discovery research being carried out at PLSL not only in the field of oncology for which Dr Meenakshi has been selected but also in other therapeutic area where there is still unmet medical need. The work carried out by PLSL scientists in the area of diabetes was selected for an oral presentation at the recently concluded meeting of the American Diabetes Association - a premier event for showcasing the latest developments in the treatment of diabetes, a disease of considerable interest India because of its significant diabetic population."

PLSL is focused on four therapeutic areas - cancer, diabetes, inflammation and infectious diseases. The company has a pipeline of fourteen compounds, including four in clinical trials. PLSL's lead chemical compound, a Cdk-4 inhibitor, has completed two phase-1 studies and is being tested in another phase-I/II trials for Multiple Myeloma. PLSL has drug discovery and developments agreements with Eli Lilly & Company and Merck & Company, two of the leading pharmaceuticals companies in the world.