Dr. Arani Chatterjee is currently President (CRO) at Cadila Pharmaceuticals, which is one of the oldest and the largest privately held pharmaceutical company of India. In this role, Dr. Chatterjee is responsible for Pre-Clinical and Clinical Research including BA/BE studies, bioanalytical assays and clinical trials. He also oversees Pharmacovigilance at Cadila Pharmaceuticals.

Prior to joining Cadila pharmaceuticals, he served at Aurobindo Pharma, Biological E, Panacea Biotec and Dr. Reddy’s Research Foundation since 1998. During his tenure he made significant contributions to the clinical development of New Chemical Entities, vaccines, novel drug delivery products, complex generics and biologics.

Dr. Arani Chatterjee earned his medical degree from Christian Medical College, Vellore and postgraduate degree from National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, India. He is also an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Indore, India.

He has served as a WHO Adviser for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and was a member of the drafting group for WHO Guidelines on clinical evaluation of vaccines: regulatory expectations. He was a member of several Brighton Collaboration groups for vaccine safety. He has participated in WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization and Global Vaccine Safety Initiative meetings, Asia Pacific Dengue Prevention Board Meeting under the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative of International Vaccine Institute and Pneumococcal Vaccines meetings at UNICEF. He has also participated in in-person pre-IND meetings with USFDA, scientific advice meetings with BfArM (Germany), ANVISA (Brazil), Medsafe (New Zealand), ALIMS (Serbia) and NORCB (Egypt) as well as expert group meetings on Indian GCP guidelines and National Technology Advisory Group on Immunisation meetings.

Dr. Chatterjee serves as a reviewer for the journal ‘Vaccine’ and has 24 peer-reviewed international research publications and 4 book chapters to his credit. He was awarded the prestigious 2012 Charles C. Shepard Award from CDC, Atlanta in 2012.

Dr. Tathagata Dutta holds a B.Pharm., M.Pharm, and PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Sagar. He further pursued postdoctoral studies at the School of Pharmacy & Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology, and Metabolic Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, focusing on the development of RNAi therapeutics for cancer management. Additionally, he is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta.

Over the span of more than two decades, Dr. Dutta has held various esteemed positions, including President, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), Executive Director, Managing Director & CEO, with several reputable multinational pharmaceutical companies worldwide. His contributions to the field have been recognized with numerous National and International Awards and Honors. He has been featured in cover page in several international magazines.

Dr. Dutta's research endeavors have led to the publication of several papers in renowned international journals, numerous patents, and authored book chapters. He serves as an editorial board member for several international journals focusing on drug discovery & delivery research. He is also associated with several committees of public policies.

His research interests span a wide array of topics, including novel drug delivery systems, dendrimers, liposomes, polymer bioconjugates, tissue-targeted drug delivery systems, nano drug delivery systems, gene therapy, vaccines, genetic immunization, depot injections, rare diseases, gene delivery, and RNAi therapeutics.

Has 27+ years of experience in the design & development of drug delivery systems & Medical Devices:

• Ophthalmic, Inhalers, Injectors & Delivery system for regenerative therapy
• from Class I to III devices

With all-round domain expertise right from Design to Industrialization including:

Risk management, Design controls, Test method development, Tooling & Assembly m/c development, Process Validation, Manufacturing & Quality systems for medical device or pharmaceutical drug delivery Packaging.

With two decades in the biopharmaceutical industry, I have led diverse initiatives in sterile manufacturing, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance. Currently, as Manager at Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd., I’ve had the opportunity to scale traditional vaccine production and lead quality systems aligned with global regulatory expectations. My academic background includes a master’s degree in microbiology and an MTech in Pharmaceutical Management. I’m also an ASQ Certified Quality Auditor and a graduate of the Accelerated General Management Program (AGMP) from IIM Ahmedabad. This combination of technical and managerial training helps me bridge the gap between innovation and implementation. I remain passionate about driving patient-centric innovation, ensuring sterility assurance, and exploring sustainable strategies in the biopharmaceutical landscape.

Serving as the Sr. Vice President & Head of Drug Product Manufacturing at Biological E. Limited (Vaccine Division), I oversee very large sterile operations producing more than 1 billion doses (> 300 million vials and ampoules/Annum). Collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure regulatory compliance, optimize production schedules, and drive operational excellence using TQM Tools & automation.

With over three decades of extensive experience spanning across Pharma, Biosimilar & Vaccine and have led transformative initiatives improving financial indicators, enhancing throughput, and fostering a positive quality culture. Known for addressing complex challenges, prioritizing continuous improvement, talent development, and innovation to maintain a competitive edge with supporting sustainable practices.

Developed strategic leadership that combines Operational, Financial, Total Quality Management, Automation, Managing regulatory compliance and much more. Led efforts to address FDA-OAI observations under the guidance of reputed consultants and improved quality & efficiency with focus on talent development, creating a positive quality/work culture while prioritizing environmental health and safety.

Recognized for my ability to troubleshoot complex issues & Automation and for implementing effective solutions swiftly.

Prof Ashutosh Kumar heads the Wadhwani Innovation and Translation centre (WITC) at IIT Bombay and working as a professor in the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Bombay, Mumbai. Prof. Kumar received his M.Sc. in Chemistry from IIT Delhi, followed by his Ph. D. at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. He did his postdoctoral research work at MPI for Biophysical Chemistry Gottingen, Germany, before coming back to IIT Bombay. Prof. Kumar has more than 25 years of experience working in the field of NMR spectroscopy, where he developed novel NMR methods in Liquid as well as solid-state. His research evolved around studying the structure and mechanism of action of protein complexes using NMR spectroscopy along with other Biophysical tools. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers, and three approved patents are in his account. Lately, he started working in the field of biopharmaceuticals, where he developed novel NMR methods to investigate the HOS of biosimilars and biologics in their formulation states. With the techniques developed by his group and data generated in his laboratory, four molecules have received the regulatory agencies' nodes till to date.

President-Operations & Site Head Manufacturing Excellence at ICHOR Biologics Pvt. Ltd. with 25 Years of experience in Vaccines, Biophrama & Oncology products manufacturing.

Developed & Manufacture Dengue Vaccine in last assignment at Panacea Biotec for which Clinical Trial Phase-3 is going to complete by end of 2025 and we all will get much awaited Dengue Vaccine.

Very high contribution in large scale manufacturing and supply of more than 10 billion doses of Polio Vaccine and 200 million doses of Pentavalent + Hexavalent Vaccine across globe for immunisation program by UNICEF & PAHO.

He has optimised production capacity to a high level and developed the purification process for 2 new plasma proteins at ICHOR Biologics in the last 6 months.

He is an expert trainer in Aseptic handling of sterile injectable and experience of facing various regulatory audits like WHO Geneva, US FDA, ANVISA etc.

Dr. Pushkar Kulkarni is a distinguished pharmacologist and toxicologist with over 20 years of experience across the pharmaceutical industry, academia, and entrepreneurial ventures. A veterinarian by training, he holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology & toxicology and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology (DABT). Currently serving as Preclinical Expert at Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, he has successfully led more than 100 preclinical programs, contributing to global regulatory submissions and accelerating drug development pipelines.

Dr. Kulkarni co-founded two innovative start-ups Zephase and Vegrandis Therapeutics—and established India’s first dedicated zebrafish research facility, pioneering its application in drug discovery. His scientific contributions include 46 peer-reviewed publications, 4 patents, and over 1,250 citations, earning recognition from global key opinion leaders.

His work has been honored with multiple awards for innovation and excellence, underscoring his commitment to advancing preclinical science and shaping next-generation methodologies for the pharmaceutical industry.