Shanavas Alikunju's Biography

Shanavas Alikunju, Vice President & Head - Translational R&D and Biology, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd

Dr Shanavas Alikunju Born and brought up in God's Own Country, Kerala, secured BS in Biology from University of Kerala (1989), MS in Biology from Mahatma Gandhi University (1991) and PhD in Life Sciences from University of Hyderabad (1998). From 1998 to 2001, underwent training as a postdoctoral fellow initially at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston and later at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. His research interest during this period was to understand the molecular basis of neurofibrillary tangle formation in Alzheimer’s disease and the key research findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. These findings were also highlighted in the US media (New York Times, Washington Post, Scientific American etc). Upon completion of the postdoctoral training, joined as a scientist at Discovery Research - the drug discovery and development arm of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. During the last 14 years, Dr Shanavas led several drug discovery projects in the oncology, cardiovascular, metabolic disorder and dermatology therapeutic areas at Dr. Reddy’s. The major achievements while being in the pharmaceutical industry have been: (a) Project leader and co-inventor of the small molecule Topoisomerase inhibitor, DRF-1042 that completed Phase 2 human trials for the treatment of solid cancers. (b) Project leader and co-inventor of the small molecule CETP Inhibitor, DRL-17822 that recently completed Phase 2a clinical trials in Europe for raising HDL-C towards the treatment of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Currently, Dr Shanavas is a Vice President & Head of Biology & Translational R&D for the Proprietary Products business division of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Hyderabad. His responsibilities include leading the translation research and biology research teams as well as identifying and prosecuting differentiated pharmaceutical product opportunities for regulated markets.