Syngene International, a subsidiary of biopharmaceutical major Biocon Ltd, has appointed Peter Bains as chief operating officer, as per a stock market disclosure.
Bains has been a part of Syngene since 2011 as director and has more than two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical space.
Before his appointment to the board of Syngene, he had a 23-year-long stint at GlaxoSmithKline where he held several roles, including head of global marketing and senior VP of commercial development. During his tenure, he helped establish several GSK offerings as brand leaders.
From 2009, he has been a consultant supporting strategic growth opportunities in small-and medium-sized life science companies. He completed his B Sc (combined honours) in physiology and zoology from Sheffield University.
Ealier this year, Biocon announced that it is looking at offloading up to 15 per cent in Syngene. The company's board approved the plan to list Syngene and the firm said it would offload 10-15 per cent of its stake through an offer for sale.
In September 2014, India Value Fund Advisors (IVFA) picked 10 per cent stake in Syngene for Rs 380 crore. It bought the stake from Biocon Research Ltd (BRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Biocon, through purchase of existing shares held by BRL. Post the completion of the transaction, Biocon and BRL jointly hold 85.54 per cent stake in Syngene.
IVFA had previously invested in Biocon in May 2003 and later exited in 2004 soon after the company went public and got listed.
Syngene offers integrated drug discovery and development services with capabilities in medicinal chemistry, biology, in vivo pharmacology and toxicology. It has a team of over 2,300 scientists and 1 million sq ft of built-up laboratories equipped with infrastructure to support the R&D programmes of global pharma, biotech and nutrition companies.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
