With 27 years of experience in pharmaceutical research all over the world, he has a unique blend of management experience in drug discovery and development. Rashmi H Barbhaiya is managing director, CEO, and one of the founders of Advinus Therapeutics. The new drug discovery and development company is promoted by the Tata Group with participation by the top management, and is located in Bangalore and Pune.

After getting his PhD in clinical pharmacology from St Bartholomew's Medical College in London, Dr Barbhaiya did his post-doctoral training at the University of Florida and the University of Wisconsin. He joined Bristol-Myers in 1980, and rose to become vice president of the Bristol-Myers-Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute.

Dr Barbhaiya was involved in the development of a number of drugs for AIDS, cancer, depression and anxiety, hypertension and congestive heart failure (CHF), diabetes, as well as many infectious diseases. In his work with the drug discovery organisation, he played a key role in introducing 'developability' as a key criterion in lead optimisation, selection of drug candidates for development and in reducing timelines for discovery to development transition, as well as for investigational new drug (IND) filings.

Returning to India in 2002, he joined Ranbaxy as president of R&D, and led a team of over 900 professionals involved in generic, drug delivery, herbal and innovation-driven new drug research and development activities. At Ranbaxy, he developed strategies to improve the commercial potential of abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) submissions.

Dr Barbhaiya was instrumental in bringing about an R&D alliance between Ranbaxy and GSK, the first of its kind for an Indian company, as well as a tie-up with the Medicine for Malaria Venture (MMV) for developing a novel anti-malarial that is currently undergoing Phase I clinical trials. He has authored over 150 published papers, is a member of several professional societies, and has served on the editorial boards of a number of leading peer-reviewed pharma research journals. He has received several awards for his scientific contributions.

He spoke to Christabelle Noronha in a freewheeling interview about the company's expertise, experience, capabilities and infrastructure for drug discovery, as well as the services it provides to pharmaceutical, biotech and agro companies. Excerpts:

Very little is known about Advinus, its focus areas and plans. Could you enlighten us?
Advinus is an innovation-driven pharmaceutical company. It has two business units. One focuses on drug discovery and is based at the Hinjewadi biotech park in Pune. The other provides services to biotech, pharma and agro-chemical industries, and is based in Bangalore. Both units function independently, with a strict firewall between them. In drug discovery, we are looking into new therapies for metabolic and inflammatory diseases. We have also made a commitment to find cures for diseases of the developing world such as Malaria, TB, Chagas Disease, etc. Our drug development centre in Bangalore is one-of-its-kind in India, and has the capability and bandwidth to provide comprehensive services for pharmaceutical, pre-clinical and early clinical development.

In November 2006, Advinus announced a $150 million drug discovery deal with Merck. Which areas of drug discovery will the tie-up focus on?
The Merck deal reflects a true drug risk / reward sharing alliance, providing us with novel disease targets (genes, proteins, enzymes, etc, linked to disease) and hits or chemicals that might work on them. In return, Advinus will identify candidates for pre-clinical and early clinical development.

The research effort focuses on metabolic disorders such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension, and will be coordinated by a joint research committee of Advinus and Merck, and conducted in a collaborative spirit. It allows the Advinus team to work with some of the most accomplished pharmaceutical researchers in the industry.

Several big drug companies including GlaxoSmithKline, Wyeth and Eli Lilly have closed western research facilities and outsourced work to Indian firms. Companies like Novartis are moving their research base to China. What does this mean for the pharma research industry?
I cannot comment on the closing of certain western R&D facilities of established pharma companies, as each of these closures may be for different and internal reasons. But I do feel that spending $1 billion to put a new drug on the market is no longer sustainable. Failure is a norm in drug research and a large part of the overall cost for putting a new molecule in the market involves the cost of the failures as well. By conducting research in India and China, the industry can reduce the cost of failure in a big way. This is one of the solutions for addressing the issue of spiralling costs and questionable productivity.

What has caused the recent spate of pharma research outsourcing to India? What does being in the right place at the right time mean for Advinus?
There is no doubt that India is getting attention primarily because of the cost advantage and its talent pool. But really smart companies can go ahead and convert cost-advantages into 'opportunity-gains'. Let me explain; the process of drug discovery and development involves a long value chain with multiple steps and go / no-go decision points. Let us assume that going from point A to P costs $100 in the US and $40 in India, and an American pharma company can save $60 by coming to India.

Looking at ground level realities, nine out of 10 molecules fail during the journey from point A to P; and it takes about three years before this can be determined. Now if the American company invests the $60 it saves for taking three candidates into development instead of one, the probability of success increases three-fold! The opportunity of three years of savings far outweighs the benefit of saving $60. This is the message the Advinus team conveys to its clients. And yes, being in the right place at the right time is a key to success!

Does India have enough trained personnel to handle the volume of jobs this will create?
The innovative pharma industry is in its infancy in India, and we do not have a large pool of trained drug discovery or development researchers. But we are fortunate to attract a large number of experienced professionals from the US and Europe, and they provide guidance to the local pool of young, talented researchers. The availability of trained professionals with required skill sets is a major issue, particularly in the area of biology. India needs to invest in creating more academic institutions to develop and train researchers. The industry also needs to do its bit here.

Tell us about the diseases for which Advinus is doing drug discovery research. Has there been any breakthrough yet?
Mr Ratan Tata inaugurated our Pune Drug Discovery Centre in August 2006. We have just started working — on diabetes, inflammation and hypertension.

Scientists and research personnel have very different aspirations from ordinary managers. What does Advinus offer them in terms of work environment, job satisfaction, and opportunities for personal growth?
During 2006, our first year, we made a total of 188 offers for various positions and got 170 acceptances. Any company should be proud of such a high offer-to-acceptance ratio. I feel we have conveyed the right message, and created a professional image within the pharmaceutical R&D community.

We have a non-hierarchical structure. We train young people with dignity and respect, and we have put systems in place to develop leaders at all levels. We emphasise ethics and integrity, and demand high standards and productivity.

Advinus supports the work-life balance, and we have a recognition / reward system that is purely performance based. In other words, we want to ensure that every employee feels that Advinus is the best place to work in the country and looks forward to coming to work when (s)he wakes up each morning.

Our employees get monetary compensation for their work like everyone else. But they also get a unique sense of satisfaction from the fact that they are working to discover novel therapies for deadly diseases; that their efforts will save many lives some day.

Having spent 20 years in the US, what was your motivation to return to India? Don't you find the bureaucracy here debilitating at times?
Actually I have returned to India after 28 years, with a mission to make a difference. As I said before, this is the right time to be in India. As a result, we stay focused on our mission. Yes, unreasonable hurdles do create frustrations at times, but we look at the larger picture — the mission for which we have returned to India.

How do you see the relationship with the Tata Group? What kind of synergies does the tie-up bring to Advinus?
The senior leadership of Advinus feels proud and privileged to be associated with the Tata Group; we share common values — ethics and integrity, commitment for nation building and focus on innovation. We greatly appreciate and value the support the Tata Group has given us.

An innovation-driven start-up needs radically different structures and procedures from those in established companies, and the board has given us the required independence to ensure that this experiment succeeds.

We have received help whenever we needed it from varied quarters of the Tata Group, and we feel very fortunate in this regard. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the support and guidance of Mr Homi Khusrokhan and Mr R Gopalakrishnan.

What is your vision for the company? Where will Advinus be in 2015?
Explaining that in detail will take too long; so let me list some points:

• We will be unquestionably recognised as India's first true innovation-driven pharma company
• Over a dozen new molecules discovered in our Pune facility will be in development, and at least one or two will enter the market
• A new Drug Discovery Centre in Pune, with a 200,000 sq ft facility
  Over 1,000 researchers working in India; may be some more in the US and/or Europe
• The Bangalore Drug Development Centre will focus more on 'search and development' rather than pure 'fees-for-service'. The idea is to develop our own products
• At least three molecules for neglected diseases in late stages of development, and one entering the market
• We will be recognised as one of the most responsible corporate citizens of India
• We will have the lowest attrition rate in the industry
• Advinus will have built up a very healthy market cap that will make the Tata Group proud

The Tata Group's advertisements frequently highlight areas in which the Tata Group has been first in the nation. We want Advinus to earn the right to feature in that advertisement, as India's first true innovation-driven pharma company.

Uploaded on March 7, 2007