New Delhi, Oct. 6 -- Eight Roads Ventures-backed biopharmaceutical firm Plasmagen Biosciences has named a former Abbott India senior executive as the chief executive to drive international expansion of its plasma therapies.
The Bengaluru-based company, which specialises in pharmaceutical products derived from blood plasma, said on Monday that it has named Vivek Kamath as its chief executive officer with effect from October 6. The statement added that the company's founder Vinod Nahar will serve as Plasmagen's executive chairman to steer its long-term strategy.
Kamath's appointment comes at a time when the company is expanding its products' reach beyond India. Last year, the company commenced commercial operations of a manufacturing facility for pure play plasma products.
Over the past several months, Plasmagen has also expanded its leadership team with notable appointments such as Sethu Madhavan as COO and Arnav Jain as CFO to support these plans.
Kamath's leadership experience spans over three decades in healthcare, ranging from pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter products to diagnostics. He has held senior titles across South Asia and Southeast Asia. Concurrently, he was also a senior advisor to private equity firms such as TPG and Lighthouse Canton, supporting the growth of their healthcare portfolio companies.
Kamath was the managing director at Abbott India Ltd and Abbott Healthcare Ltd for over four years.
At MSD Pharmaceuticals, he worked for a span of more than seven years, and served as the managing director in the latter half of his time in the company.
"Vivek's deep experience in leading large organizations, coupled with his operational expertise and ability to build world class teams, makes him an outstanding addition to our leadership team," said Nahar. Plasmagen Biosciences offers life-saving drugs such as albumin, intravenous immunoglobulin, rabies immunoglobulin, hepatitis B immunoglobulin and RhD immunoglobulin (anti-D) under its own brand name. The company's clientele includes private hospitals and state governments in India and other emerging markets.
Within India, Plasmagen has a presence across over 70 cities, covering more than 5,000 physicians and hospitals, through an end-to-end cold chain network.
In 2023, the biopharmaceutical firm raised Rs 225 crore from existing investors Eight Roads Ventures, F-Prime Capital, UK-based Artian Investments, and other high-net-worth investors including Ashish Kacholia. It previously had raised about Rs 160 crore from Eight Roads and F-Prime Capital.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.