Managing Director
Swapan Bhattacharya is the Managing Director of our company. Mr. Bhattacharya is responsible for the executive leadership and overall management of the company. He has been associated with the TCG group since 1995 and has spear headed the group’s investments in India and its foray into life sciences from 1998. He has over 30 years of experience in national and international organizations. Prior to joining us, he has held positions with Paine Webber Inc. as Senior Vice President; and with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. In January 2009 has been awarded ‘Udyog Rattan’ Award by Institute of Economic Studies, India for his outstanding contribution in India’s industrial development. He is also the Ex Co-Chairman of the biotechnology committee of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry ("FICCI") and holds various committee positions in US India Business Council, CII and AMCHAM. He holds a bachelor’s degree in technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, a master of sciences from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, U.S.A and a degree in Master of Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, U.S.A.
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Chris H. Senanayake was born in Sri Lanka and received a BS degree (First Class) in Sri Lanka. After coming to the United States, he completed his MS at Bowling Green State University with Professor Thomas Kinstle in synthetic chemistry. He obtained his Ph.D. under the guidance of Professor James H. Rigby at Wayne State University in 1987 where he worked on the total synthesis of complex natural products such as, ophiobolanes, and completed the first total synthesis of grosshemin in the guaianolide family. He then undertook a postdoctoral fellow with Professor Carl R. Johnson and worked on the total synthesis of polyol systems such as amphotericin B and compactin analogous, and the synthesis of C-nucleoside precursors.
In 1989, he joined the Department of Process Development at Dow Chemical Co. In 1990, he joined the Merck Process Research Group. After 6 years at Merck, he accepted a position at Sepracor, Inc. in 1996 where he was promoted to Executive Director of Chemical Process Research. In 2002, he joined Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals. He served >14 years as the Vice President of Chemical Development at BI and led a group of highly talented scientists, engineers, and Administrative staff located in Ridgefield, CT. In 2018 June, he joined AstaTech BioPharmaceutical Corporation as the CEO where he oversees all subsidiaries including AstaGreen Chem Inc., in Richmond VA as the CEO. In 2019 October he became the CSO of TCG Lifesciences and foundered TCG GreenChem Inc, in US as the CEO. He was also appointed as president of Astatech biopharmaceutical. Dr. Senanayake's research interests focus on the development of new asymmetric methods for the synthesis of bioactive molecules and heterocycles and on catalytic, enzymatic, and mechanistic studies. He has published and lectured in the area of practical asymmetric synthesis and many disciplines of organic chemistry how to develop drugs on an economical, greener and practical manner in large-scale operation for rapid development of drugs. He is the co-author >400 papers, book chapters and review articles, and more then >100 patents in many areas of synthetic organic chemistry, drug development and design of improved chemical entities. Dr. Senanayake participated in many drugs development activities such as, Crixivan, Lunesta, Jardiance, Formotorol, Desvenlafaxine etc.
Dr. Senanayake demonstrates the ability to define and optimize chemical research and development strategies and tactics. He is able to "connect the dots" between the purely scientific and commercial perspectives and set up creative and effective strategies for new and proprietary products in ways that build value for the organization and create a competitive advantage. He is an Editorial Advisory Board member of the Organic Process Research & Development Journal. In 2008, he was the chairperson of Stereochemistry Gordon Conference. In 2010, he received the prestigious Siegfried gold medal award for development of practical processes for APIs and Process Chemistry. In 2011, He was appointed as an editorial board member of the Advance Synthesis and Catalysis Journal. In 2012 He was appointed as an Advisory board member of the Asian Journal of Organic Chemistry. In 2013 he was appointed as a Board of Editors for Organic Syntheses. In 2016, he joined as an IQ board member. In 2017 November, he was appointed as an advisory board member of Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry. In 2017, he was appointed as the Board of Director of CURE (connecting Connecticut's science community).
Executive Vice President Global Head of Research and Development
Head of Business Development USA/EU
Dr. Joseph D. Armstrong, III graduated from Pfeiffer College in 1982 with a BS double major in Mathematics and Chemistry and a minor in History. He then went on to obtain his Ph. D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1988 under the direction of Professor David Walba and did his post-doctoral work at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville under the direction of Professor Robert E. Ireland.
Dr. Armstrong joined the Process Research Department at Merck & Co. Inc. in Rahway, N.J in 1990 and has held many varied roles with increasing levels of responsibility. From 2001-2004, Joe was the Early Development Team Co-Chair (charged with developing the integrated strategy to transition a compound from Discovery into Clinical Trials) and led the Process Research Development Team that designed, developed and implemented the manufacturing process for the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in Januvia TM. Januvia is a treatment for Type II diabetes and is currently marketed in >100 counties and generates >$6 billion dollars a year in sales. In 2005, Joe took on an international rotation in the UK for 2 years with Merck in the Pharmaceutical Research and Development Department focusing on formulation research. In 2007 he was promoted to Senior Director and managed the sites in Canada, UK and Japan for Process Research. He returned to Rahway in 2008 and led the group of Project Chemistry, responsible for all API deliveries from enabling toxicology studies, through Phase I to Phase III clinical trials and subsequentially to file an NDA. Dr. Armstrong also led the Basic Pharmaceutical research group which was charged with leveraging pre-formulation and process research scientists in addressing liabilities for identifying pre-clinical candidates. Building upon this knowledge, he was tapped to be the Preclinical Sciences Lead, which included Safety Assessment, Process Research, Formulation, Drug Metabolism and Phase I clinical trials, for both companies, Legacy Schering Plough and Legacy Merck. He was charged with integrating the two companies, to develop strategy, organizational design, new work flow processes, vision and culture for the new Discovery and Preclinical Sciences Department. In October of 2010, Dr. Armstrong rejoined Process Chemistry as an Executive Director, leading scientists in the Discovery Process Chemistry Department, the RNA Therapeutics Department and the Structure Elucidation group. In 2016 Dr. Armstrong took on a new role as Executive Director in Project Management overseeing Companion Diagnostics, the Oncology Phase I pipeline (21 NCE’s) and Oncology Translational Medicine Biomarkers for all drugs to be used in combination with Merck’s leading oncology drug, Keytruda. Dr. Armstrong finished his career at Merck developing a comprehensive chemical management system for the entire corporation from “cradle to grave” for all chemicals ranging from target identification to commercialization.
Currently Dr. Armstrong is Executive Vice President of TCG GreenChem as Global Head of Research and Development and Head of Business Development for US/EU.
The Process Research Development Team for JanuviaTM was awarded the Solvias Prize in 2004 (Basel, Switzerland), the IChemE Aztra-Zeneca Award for Green Chemistry and Engineering in 2005 (London, UK), the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award in 2006 (Washington D.C.) and the Prix Galien Award (the highest award given for pharmaceutical research and is considered to be the “Oscar” equivalent) in 2007 (NYC, NY). In 2005 Dr. Armstrong was chair of the preeminent Gordon Research Conference on Natural Products. Dr. Armstrong was awarded the Thomas Alva Edison award in 2008 for his patent on the asymmetric hydrogenation process for the preparation of Sitagliptin, the active ingredient in JanuviaTM. In August of 2010, Dr. Armstrong along with two other chemists at Merck were presented with the 'Heroes of Chemistry' award (Boston) by the president of the American Chemical Society. Dr. Armstrong has more than 40 publications, over 70 invited lectures around the world and 12 patents.
Vice President - Chemistry
Dr. Saha is a part of the core team responsible for the growth of the company. He has been with TCG Lifesciences since 2001. Prior to joining TCG Lifesciences he worked with the Florida Institute of Technology, USA as a Research Scientist. He was also a visiting professor at Osaka University, Japan. He has published 26 papers in international journals. Dr. Saha is a PhD from the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, India.
Vice President - Chemistry
Dr. Roy is one of the key members responsible for the growth of the company. He has been with the company since 2002. He has more than 16 years of Industrial experience. He is a specialist in new process development and process optimization. Dr. Roy has several publications to his credit and holds seven European patents. He has played a key role in conceptualizing and designing of the Kilo Laboratory. After a brief stint with AVRA Laboratories, he joined University of Kansas for his post doctoral work under Dr. Gunda I George from 1999 to 2002. Dr. Roy did his PhD from Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, India.
Vice President - Chemistry
Dr. Dutta is a key member of the scientific leadership team at TCG Lifesciences. He is an accomplished scientific professional with 21 years of industrial & 29 years of research experience and expertise in Organic, Bio-Organic, Medicinal and Combinatorial Chemistry. He has a strong track record of delivering preclinical leads for clinical development in both integrated drug discovery programs as well as CRO services. He has re-joined the company in 2015, after a year’s tenure in GVK Biosciences, where he played scientific and strategic leadership role. Prior to that, Dr. Dutta has a long association of more than ten years with TCG Lifesciences, when he successfully managed some of the key collaborations and built strong client relationships with high quality delivery and scientific excellence. He has a number of publications and presentations published in prestigious peer-reviewed journals. He also has several awards and honors to his credit. Dr. Dutta has post-doctoral research experience from The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA. He has earned his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, India and his masters in Organic Chemistry from Jadavpur University, India.
Vice President - Analytical Chemistry
Dr. Roychowdhury is a part of the core team responsible for the growth of the company. He has been with the company since 2001. His area of expertise includes method development and validation of new chemical entities, and impurity profiling and characterization of novel molecules. Prior to joining the company he worked with Ranbaxy Research Laboratories, Lupin Pharmaceuticals and Hindustan Aluminum Corporation. Dr. Roychowdhury is a PhD from Banaras Hindu University in Organic Chemistry, India.
Associate Vice President – Chemistry, Site Head - Pune
Arani has joined the organization as Associate Vice President – Chemistry, Site Head - Pune. She will lead the delivery and business operations for the TCGLS Pune site. Arani holds Ph.D. from IICB, Kolkata, and Post Doc from Texas Christian University in the US. She comes with CRO experience of over 21 years in synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry at Jubilant Biosys, GVK Bio, and Sai Life Sciences. Throughout her career, she acted as a transformational technology leader and has strategically provided innovative and cost-effective solutions to improve efficiency and high-impact delivery.
Associate Vice President - Biology
Dr. Chattopadhyay is one of the key members responsible for initiation and growth of the Biology division of the company. He has been with TCG Lifesciences since inception of Biology division of the company in 2003. He has more than 20 years of Industrial research experience and 30 publications in peer reviewed journals. Initiating his postdoctoral career in RIKEN, Wako-shi, Japan as postdoctoral researcher, he joined National Institutes of Health, MD, USA as a Fogarty International fellow and was a Post Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Rochester Medical Center, NY, before joining the company in 2003. Dr. Chattopadhyay did his Ph.D. in Biophysics and Molecular Biology from University of Calcutta, India and he was a Calcutta University topper and Gold Medalist in his undergrads.
Vice President-Business Development
Dr. Sanjoy Kumar Mahanty is a part of core Business Development team in the USA. He joined TCG Lifesciences in the year 2015. Dr. Mahanty has 22 years experience in academia and business development in the Biotech/Pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining the company, he worked with Regado Biosciences Inc. as Executive Director, Biology, a Senior Scientist, Pharmacology at Inspire Pharmaceuticals, and Manager, Cell Biology at Paradigm Genetics, Inc. Dr. Mahanty has an extensive experience in drug discovery & development in the areas of scientific research, management, business, financing, contract negotiation, new target identification, and preclinical & clinical testing. He has 18 co-authored peer reviewed publications, one book chapter, and 10 patents to his credit. Dr. Mahanty has Post-Doctoral Research Experience from Harvard Medical School, Boston, and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry and M.Sc. in Lifesciences from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
Vice President- Polymer and Speciality Chemicals
Soumen Sensharma, head of polymer and specialty chemicals of TCG Lifesciences (“TCGLS”), joined the company in June 2017. He has more than 20 years of Industrial experience in the field of polymer, materials and specialty chemicals. He is a specialist in developing new catalyst for polyolefin synthesis and process development. Also, he is responsible for developing new materials exploiting organic chemistry and nanotechnology as well as innovative applications for future needs. Furthermore, he is looking for sustainable solutions for the benefit of the society, including research on waste to value added products.
Prior to joining TCGLS, Soumen spent a decade at the Tata Chemicals Innovation Center in Pune, India. He received the prestigious Tata Innovista and Titan innovation awards there. Prior to that, he has worked at DSM research, University of Ottawa and GE, Bangalore.
Soumen did his PhD in polymer chemistry at National Chemicals Laboratory, Pune, India under Prof. S. Sivaram. He holds more than 20 patents both in India and internationally. He is the key architect for creating innovative products and solutions for Haldia Petrochemicals and has already filed a few patent applications
Senior Director - Data Science
Dr. Sonali Das comes with 18+ years of Industry experience in the field of Data Science. She has specialized in applying informatics in multiple ways that range from delineating nuances in biochemistry and cell biology to providing unique in silico solutions through translational research. She has a number of publications in prestigious peer-reviewed journals and patents. Being trained as an undergraduate in Chemistry (Jadavpur University) and postgraduate in Biotechnology (IIT-Bombay), Sonali earned a PhD degree from the Bose Institute, Kolkata, followed by a post-doctoral research experience from the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.
Director - Business Development
Mr. Hirose is currently responsible for business development in Japan. He joined the company in the year 2008. Mr. Hirose is equipped with 24 vast years of experience in the pharma industry. He held various positions at Okahata Co., Ltd, Seika Sangyo Co., Ltd, Itochu Chemical Frontier Corp, etc. Mr. Hirose has done his B.S. in Chemistry from University of Tokushima in 1991.
Vice President - Finance ( Chief Financial Officer)
Mr Rakesh Poddar has joined TCGLS as CFO and is responsible for managing treasury, accounts, taxation, audits and pertaining control functions of the Company. He has over 22+ years of experience in managing Strategy & Financial Planning, Audits and Taxation across diverse business verticals in Engineering, Real Estate, Textiles and Manufacturing Industries. In his previous assignments, Rakesh has worked in Senior Leadership roles with Indian and MNC Companies viz. Birla Corporation Ltd, ABB Ltd, Alstom Ltd, GE, Arvind Ltd, Anup Eng Ltd. He was CFO at Exide Leclanche Energy Pvt Ltd prior to joining TCGLS. He has been on the Board of Directors of Arvind JV Company and has worked in major engineering industries.
Company Secretary & Director- Legal
Mr. Kailash Jaiswal (ACS, ICSA (U.K.), LLB, MDBA), is the Company Secretary & Director-Legal of Company and is associated with the Company since November 2008. He spearheads Company Law Matters, Legal Affairs, and FEMA transactions . He brings with him over two decades of extensive knowledge and experience of Corporate Secretarial Matters, Legal Matters, Global Securitization, Overseas Corporate Transactions, Banking Matters, Corporate Restructuring, FEMA, and RBI laws.
Mr. Jaiswal is also Company Secretary of Clininvent Research Private Limited, which is wholly owned subsidiary of TCG Lifesciences Private Limited.
Associate Vice President and Head - HR & Admin
Anirban is a passionate Human Resources Professional with 18+ years’ of experience in organization building and HR transformation. In this journey he had playedmultiplestrategic and leadership roles covering areas like Talent Management (HRBP), Employee Relations, HR Compliance, Compensation & Benefits, HR Policy & process development, Recruitment etc. in diverse business domains, Industries, including Godrej, Lafarge, BOC, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant, Vesuvius and very recently he has joined TCG Life Sciences as Head – HR & Admin.
Anirban completed his Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resources Management from Indian Institute of Social Welfare & Business Management (IISWBM), Calcutta University – Class of 1998. He is also a certified Assessor on Assessment Centre Approach to Competency Mapping from XLRI. Anirban was recognized as one of the Top HR leaders, West Bengal, by World HRD Congress.
In his last assignment with Vesuvius (where he was employed till March’2019), he used to head the Corporate HR practices for India and was responsible for managing some of the key corporate HR Initiatives, like Talent Acquisition, Development, Organization Development, People capability enhancement etc.
In his current role as Head – HR & Admin in TCG Life Sciences, he is responsible for leading the HR & Admin practices in India.
As a People leader, Anirban has played a significant role in transforming the HR Business Partnership to the next level. He could easily build relationships with the business leadership at all levels through by his ability to help them, advise them and provide consulting solutions to all their people related issues. He has always built a strong HR credibility to the business with an in-depth understanding of business, needs of the business, consistent delivery of high quality of HR strategic services in line with business needs, leading to enriched professional experience for employees.
Anirban has the ability to build a robust team of smart, creative people, who can align themselves easily with the business needs of the organization and deliver quality output in a consistent manner. He has always been successful in retaining the best people by creating an open-ended, inspiring team environment and eco-system enabled by trust and fairness.
Associate Vice President - SCM
Mr Kundan Kumar is responsible for managing supply chain functions of TCG lifesciences, which includes Procurement, sourcing, planning, logistics and Imports & Export . Mr Kumar has been associated with the company since June-2019. He has over 15+ years of experience in managing across supply chain functions of various pharmaceutical companies.
Prior to Joining TCG life sciences he has worked with LUPIN, DR Reddy’s Laboratories- China, CIPLA, Shanghai Fulland Pharma etc.
Mr Kumar holds a bachelor degree in Chemical Engineering from MSRIT, Bengaluru and a Master degree in Pharmaceutical management from NMIMS, MUMBAI.
Senior Director – IT & Corp. Comm, CISO
Abhijit has been associated with TCG Lifesciences since April 2021 and is responsible for the entire Information Technology operations both in India and USA. Abhijit comes with 28 years of industry background. Having spent his formative years in Canada, he attended the Memorial University of Canada to pursue Political Science and Computer Science as a double major. He returned to India and started his own company in 1998. After running it successfully for four years, he looked towards the user industry and since then has worked with companies like Exide Industries Limited, Ananda Bazar Group, Karam Chanda Caterpillar dealership in India, a Renewable Energy firm, and is now engaged with TCG Lifesciences. Abhijit has rolled out four large-scale local and global SAP projects, lead multiple digital transformation engagements and is passionate about Information Security. Abhijit is also the recipient of Innovative 100 CIO, CISO 100, Infocom Changemaker awards to name a few.