“There are no such things as applied sciences, only applications of science.”
- Louis Pasteur
In this episode of IDRF Speaks we will be speaking to Dr. Narendra Chirmule. Dr. Chirmule is a former head of R&D at Biocon. He has has held leadership positions in Merk Vaccines and Amgen and contributed to the development of multiple vaccines. These include vaccines for the prevention of cervical cancer(Human papillomavirses), shingles (Varicella zoster), childhood diarrhea (Rotavirus), and biologics for osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, platelet loss, breast cancer and gene therapy using viral vectors. His primary area of expertise is on immune responses to biologics and vaccines. Other areas that he has contributed to include -regulatory guidance, utilization of quality by design approaches of molecule design and statistical methods for analyses of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics. He has recently published a book called Good Genes Gone Bad, which was recommended to me by Dr. Pradip Nair who is currently Chief Scientific Manager at Biocon Research Limited. Dr. Chirmule is also on the NIH (USA) advisory committee for HIV vaccines. Dr. Chirmule was kind enough to join me for a Zoom interview.
In the interview, we speak about a wide range of topics including #bigPharma #careers #academiaVsIndustry #biotech #vaccines #infectiousDiseases #COVID19InIndia #startupEcosystemInIndia #entrepreneurship #purposeOfLife #workingInIndiaVsUS
Personally, I felt this was a prelude to a much longer conversation where we could dive deeper into immunogeneticity of vaccines, regulatory frameworks, expansion of the biotech industry in India, design and phases of clinical trials and so on. I look forward to sitting down with Dr. Chirmule for another conversation soon.
Happy listening!
Episode 02: Infectious disease from an industry (pharma and biotech) perspective