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 » Resources » Knowledgebase » Interview with Anu Acharya - CEO, Ocimum Biosolutions

July 17, 2008
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© 2004-2008 Kromosoft, LLC. All rights reserved.

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In this Kromosoft exclusive interview, Anu Acharya, Chairperson and CEO, Ocimum Biosolutions, talks to Dr. Amrinder Arora of Kromosoft.

About Anu Acharya

Anuradha (Anu) Acharya is the founder and CEO of Ocimum Biosolutions. She is a regular presenter in technology forums and round tables and one of the well known first generation entrepreneurs in the life-sciences space. She was named by Red Herring Magazine to the list of "25 Tech Titans under 35" in 2006.

About Ocimum Biosolutions

Ocimum Biosolutions delivers end to end genomic products and services out of strategic locations worldwide: Gaithersburg and Indianapolis in the United States, Ijsselstien in the Netherlands and Hyderabad in India. It has over 2000 customers worldwide, and operates under 3 main business units of BioIT, BioMolecules and BioResearch. Ocimum was recently funded by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private Equity arm of the World Bank. In December 2006, Ocimum Biosolutions acquired the BioMolecules synthesis business of Isogen Life Science based in The Netherlands. In October 2007, Ocimum bought Gene Logic’s Genomics arm. Ocimum has received several awards including "Fastest Growing Life Sciences Company in India", Red Herring Asia 100, "IT Innovation Award" by NASSCOM and has been named to the Deloitte list of Fastest Growing companies in Asia, three years in a row.

Extended Abstract

  1. Kromosoft (KS): For the benefit of our readers who may not be familiar with Ocimum, could you give a two minute introduction to Ocimum Biosolutions?

    Anu Acharya (CEO, Ocimum Biosolutions): We are a global genomics outsourcing company. Essentially what we are trying to do is to provide a combination of software, lab and mindware to come up with solutions in genomics for what the common pharma and biotech companies are looking for. Whether it is biomarkers, clinical genomics, or anything else in this space, we have a complete solution. We have databases that we have inherited from Gene Logics acquisition that we recently did; we have software solutions that we created, such as LIMS and project management and analytical tools, and we have a host of services. So, we combine all of that to create an offshore lab – if you might call it that in the genomics.

  2. KS: So, I think you have partially answered my next question already: with recent acquisitions, how would you say that this concept or this concise message has changed?
  3. KS: Right, so would you say – the last barrier that has been broken in becoming the complete solution, what is that barrier – is that the database of the biomarkers?
  4. KS: From a doctors ’ and medical professionals ’ perspective, do you see that your organization is relevant, or do you consider it as a part of the drug discovery black box for them?
  5. KS: If you had to give a sample of how is your organization coordinating with different drug companies in the development of drugs against genetic diseases and how is the drug discovery process for a genetic disorder different from the drug discovery process for a non-genetic disorder (infections, etc, such as SARS or HIV)?
  6. KS: I think overall what you said was that the company does not differentiate from a commercial service perspective, but at the same time, the database and people capabilities that it has, makes the capabilities for the genetic diseases sometimes more pronounced.
  7. KS: Could you tell us a bit about Genowiz 4.0 – what is new in that, and what are some of the reasons people are using the new product?
  8. KS: Could you expand on the last part – did you say that it makes migration easier?
  9. KS: So, for anybody who has been using either a prior version, or a different product, they can easily start using Genowiz 4.0.
  10. KS: Ok, so a general question - what are some of the special challenges that the drug companies of today face in light of the current patent laws and laws regarding generics? How do you see that as impacting Ocimum?
  11. KS: Ok, so shifting gears a little bit here, considering that there is so much investment going into electronic medical records - EMR, it seems to the industry folks that the EMR might be taking off in a bigger way for some of the smaller practices. Are there any plans to extend Ocimum in that direction?
  12. KS: ..so till a few more percentage points of doctors actually use EMR?
  13. KS: In the coming era of personalized medicine, do you see that drug discovery process is indeed following that trend – for example, do you see that the big biopharma is actually using a process that is different from the one used ten years ago, in the sense that it is trying to target a smaller demographic as opposed to the entire humanity?
  14. KS: So would you say that at this point, all the big pharma companies are doing some research that is demographic, and is Ocimum working on those initiatives as well.
  15. KS: So essentially, Ocimum is playing a part of the puzzle even if the complete solution is being developed by the pharma companies.
  16. KS: Great, so those were most of the questions we had. Do you have any special messages for genetics and medical professionals – any hidden gems that you would like to point people to?

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