About Us
OUR VISION
To be the leading contract research provider, driving innovation
and excellence in scientific research and development.
OUR MISSION
Leadership and Management Team
Nareshkumar Jain, Ph.D. – Director & Founder
Dr. Jain is the Director of NJBIO India Pharmaceutical Pvt Ltd. and the Founder, CEO, and Chairman of the Board at NJ Bio, Inc., USA. Prior to founding NJ Bio, Inc., in 2018, Naresh served as Global Head of Chemistry and Senior Vice-President of ADC Biomanufacturing at Abzena. In 2009, he founded the chemistry based CRO, The Chemistry Research Solution LLC (TCRS), and served for six years as Managing Director of the company until its acquisition by Abzena in late 2015. Naresh has over ten years of medicinal chemistry experience at Johnson and Johnson, where he worked on advancing new drug molecules from early lead to lead optimization and clinical trials. He has co-authored over 60 publications, patents, and book chapters. Among his notable achievements are the total syntheses of complex natural products including the antibiotics vancomycin and rutamycin. Naresh received his Ph.D. from Boston University with Prof. James Panek and was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California with Prof. K.C. Nicolaou. Naresh received extensive leadership training through the Advanced Management Program at The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.
Arpit Pokharna, ACA, CS – Non-Executive Director
Arpit Pokharna is a Non-Executive Director at NJBIO India. He has more than eight years of experience as a finance professional with diversified global exposure in industries including Downstream Petrochemicals & Construction Chemicals and Banking and Financial Services. Arpit obtained his bachelor’s degree in business management from Narsee Monjee College of Commerce & Economics, Mumbai. He is certified as a Chartered Accountant (ICAI), Company Secretary (ICSI) and holds a post-graduation certification in finance from the Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM-I).
Priya Nayak, Ph.D. – Vice-President, Business Development & Alliance Management
Priyashri (Priya) Nayak is a Vice-President, Business Development & Alliance Management at NJBIO India and the Vice-President of Global Operations and Board Member at NJ Bio, Inc., USA. Priya has 23 years of broad experience in global consumer healthcare companies including Glaxo SmithKline, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, and Prestige Labs, as well as with a start-up company, The Chemistry Research Solution (acquired by Abzena). She has led technical teams that successfully developed and commercialized global products for brands such as Aleve PM®, Bayer® Aspirin®, Aspirin® plus C, Alka-Seltzer®, Benadryl®, Sudafed® Listerine®, Bengay®, Tums®, and Citrucel®, contributing to over a billion dollars in sales. Priya received her Ph.D. in Industrial Pharmacy from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Allied Health Sciences, Boston, and a Masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University Department of Chemical Technology (now ICT), Mumbai.
Rahul Bagul, Ph.D. – Executive Director & Technical Head
Rahul Bagul serves as Executive Director & Technical Head at NJBIO India. He oversees and provides support to NJBIO India’s R&D activities as well as non-technical operations. Rahul is an experienced synthetic organic chemist with over 10 years of experience in multi-step organic synthesis, especially carbohydrate and macromolecules as well as flow chemistry for automated oligosaccharide synthesis. He joined NJBIO India in 2022 and has since been involved in antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) research, with a primary emphasis on the library synthesis of payloads and linkers. Rahul has completed his Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science under the guidance of Prof. Narayanaswamy Jayaraman and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Québec Montréal, Canada and Complex Carbohydrates Research Centre (CCRC) in University of Georgia, USA. He has co-authored more than 15 publications and has 2 patents.
Gajanan Thakre – Manager (Chemistry)
Gajanan Thakre is the Manager (Chemistry) at NJBIO India. Prior to working with NJBIO India, he has worked at eminent companies like ASolution Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., Piramal Life Sciences, Chembiotek Research International and Kumar Organic Product Ltd. He has a renowned experience in multi-step organic synthesis including the synthesis of peptides, natural products, ADCs (Antibody-Drug Conjugates), and heterocycles. He also has a strong expertise of process optimization and using various analytical techniques like NMR and Mass spectrometry.
Rahul Telore, Ph.D. – Principal Scientist
Rahul Telore is the Principal Scientist at NJBIO India. He completed his Ph.D. from the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai and has pursued his post-doctoral fellowship from IIT, Mumbai under the guidance of renowned Prof. Krishna P. Kaliappan. He has a strong knowledge of organic synthesis of complex natural products and fluorescent probes. He has a strong expertise in handling spectroscopic techniques like NMR and Mass Spectrometry.
Aniket Naik – Research Scientist (Analytical Chemistry)
Aniket Naik is a Research Scientist (Analytical Chemistry) at NJBIO India. He is highly skilled in method development and validation using sophisticated analytical instruments like LC-MS, GC, and HPLC. He has hands-on experience working with LC-MS as well as LC-MS/MS instruments of various global manufacturers. At NJBIO India, he is responsible for setting-up analytical experiments and providing mass spectral identification support to medicinal chemistry research. Aniket has completed his Master’s in Pharmacy (QA) from the University of Mumbai, and also has a Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research from Academy of Clinical Excellence, Mumbai. He has co-authored three publications in leading Indian journals. Aniket has over 10 years of experience and was previously associated with companies like Analytical Solutions, ASolution Pharmaceuticals, Sai Life Sciences, Piramal Healthcare and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.
Our Facility
NJBIO India is located in Mumbai (Kanjurmarg), India. The facility is in close proximity to premier institutes like the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and other leading research organizations. We operate out of ~ 15,900 sq. ft. of state-of-the art laboratory space which is purposefully designed for R&D scale chemical synthesis and process development.
