At the helm of Zenotech

Scientist, banker, consultant, head honcho, entrepreneur. Jayaram Chigurupathi has worn many hats in just over a decade, but the hat that fits him best is that of the last — entrepreneur. Actually, he’s one of those people you could call a serial entrepreneur. And not without reason.

The restlessness, that’s usually associated with most entrepreneurs, was visible at a pretty early stage in the life of this 43-year-old CEO of biotech startup Zenotech Laboratories. Mr Chigurupathi cut his teeth in business when he opened his first company in the US just after completing business school.

A few years later, he joined domestic pharma major Dr Reddy’s Labs where he was responsible for the latter’s foray into some new areas, playing the role of an entrepreneur within an established business. More recently, he started his own company which is a niche player in the emerging biotech space.

Mr Chigurupathi considers himself fortunate having had the opportunity to dabble in various projects. A post graduate in biological science from the University of Hyderabad, he also completed his PhD from the same university in association with the Iowa State University USA. He went on to complete his post doctoral program from the Iowa State University before he signed up for an MBA programme at Cornell — an Ivy League school — in ’93.

While he was a student at Cornell, he started working as a technology transfer consultant at the school. “The school had a tech transfer cell which focused on providing business solutions to biotech companies,” says Mr Chigurupathi. This gave him his first opportunity to work with entrepreneurs and businesses in the life sciences space.

After he graduated from Cornell, Mr Chigurupathi capitalized on the experience he had as technology transfer consultant and joined Wilkerson group, a consultancy focusing on the biotechnology industry. A year later, he decided to trade the consultant’s role for that of an entrepreneur. Mr Chigurupathi moved to Ithaca where he started a company, Viral Therapeutics, with an American scientist.

One of the companies that Viral Therapeutics was working with in the mid-90s was Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. Viral Therapeutics was helping the Indian company set up its biotech operations. “I initially worked with Dr Reddy’s as a consultant. But after some time they offered me the opportunity to come on board and I decided to take up the assignment,” says Mr Chigurupathi. He joined Dr Reddy’s in April ’97 as vice president.

Those days, it was not very common for people to give up their assignments in the US and return to India. “People thought I was being foolish,” he recalls. Mr Chigurupathi did not see himself staying in the country for too long. “I thought I will work in India for about three years and then go back to the US,” he says.

But the three-year stint that he thought he would take up at Dr Reddy’s stretched to six years. He started as head of diagnostics and then took over the company’s biotech operations. “We started the biotech portfolio with the launch of GCSF in ’98 and then followed that with some oncology products.”

Soon his role at the company included handling some of its international operations. By the time he left, he was in charge of the company’s business in 30 countries. He was also managing director of Dr Reddy’s biotech subsidiary – Zenovus Biotech. “The stint with Dr Reddy’s was a very valuable experience for me.

I was in charge of emerging markets and emerging businesses which gave me the opportunity to work like an entrepreneur within the set up of an established business,” he says. In ’03, he left Dr Reddy’s to start Zenotech Laboratories, a biotech company with a focus on oncology products. Having already had the experience of setting up a couple of businesses, starting out on his own was much easier.

In just three years of operations, the company has achieved quite a bit, says Mr Chigurupathi. “We broke even last year and we expect to grow significantly from now,” he adds. The company is one of the few biotech players in the country to have USFDA approved facilities. This is likely to give the company an edge with the opening up of the global markets for generic biotech products.

The company is all set to take its first biotech product – GCSF – to the European market. “We are talking to some potential partners who will help us take the product to the European market,” says Mr Chigurupathi. Zenotech Labs has also entered into a couple of agreements with domestic pharma major, Ranbaxy, to take its products to key pharmaceuticals markets like the US.

Incidentally, Zenotech is also one of the few pharma start-ups in the country that has equity participation by another pharmaceutical company. Ranbaxy has recently picked up a stake in the company with an investment of Rs 20 crore. Going ahead, Mr Chigurupathi sees his company evolving into a strong player in the biotech space.

Personally though, he may let the entrepreneur in him dabble in other things. “I’m quite interested in community banking,” he says. He has recently taken on the role of chairman at the Coastal Local Area bank, one of the few community banks in the country, and is keen to take this interest forward.

Mr Chigurupathi insists that it’s not too much to handle, adding that he even finds time for himself despite his varied projects. “When I look back at my life, I want to see that I have lived it to the fullest,” he says. You haven’t heard the last of Jayaram Chigurupathi yet.