Dr. Raj Dhar
Dr. Dhar is the Director of Chemistry at the research and development division of PharmaRen LLC. After completing his Ph.D. and post-doctoral studies at the H C Brown’s lab at Purdue University, he started his industrial profession by joining Aldrich Chemical Company and, subsequently, as a senior scientist at the Norway-based company Borregaard involved in Biosolutions, Biomaterials, and Fine Chemicals. In 2000, he joined Reliable Biopharmaceutical Co. in Saint Louis, where he joined the production team in charge of manufacturing APIs, including producing Fludarabine Phosphate, a category IV cytotoxic anticancer drug. During 2003-2008, he broadened his experiences in developing and marketing anticancer drugs by serving as project director at Zydus and Onconova Therapeutics. His broad experience in the pharmaceutical industry covers the management of synthetic route feasibility studies, CDMO sourcing, API production under cGMP guidelines, and ANDA/INDA filing. He joined PharmaRen Discovery in 2014 and served as Director of Chemistry, focusing on CDMO sourcing and oversight of the off-site chemical operation.
Dr. Sam Fang
Dr. Fang brings three decades of global leadership, entrepreneurial, and professional experience with broad business development, operational, regulatory, and trans-continent actional expertise in the pharmaceutical sector to his current role as Chief Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Officer at PharmaRen. He is also a founding executive member and CEO of ACANA PHARMATECH, a company based in Shanghai. At ACANA, he led cGMP manufacturing of the complex anticoagulant Fondaparinux. He oversaw and administered compliance, IP, security, privacy, public affairs, and government affairs of the company. He was the key player in bringing the Generic injectable Fondaparinux to the US market from the R&D stage through fill-finish and packaging. His cooperation with PharmaRen started in 2014. He has been a shareholder, partner, and key member of the PharmaRen scientific team in leading the scale-up development efforts. His team has prepared a complete technical package for the production of Epothilone B under cGMP guidelines.
- PhD
Sourena Nadji
The company's co-founder, Dr. Sourena Nadji, currently serves as the Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President of process development. He is also the Founder and CEO of PharmaRen LLC, engaged in developing complex synthetic, injectable Generic Drugs. He has over 35 years of experience in synthetic chemistry and managing injectable generic drug development from early research and development through DMF registration. Before founding PharmaRen, he held the R&D Director position at Reliable Pharmaceutical Co., overseeing target identification and prioritization, management of R&D, and grant writing. In this position, he successfully developed novel chemical processes, backed by process patents, for manufacturing Generics at competitive costs. Several generic drugs developed by his groups, such as Fludarabine, Floxuridine, Cladribine, Dexmedetomidine, and Chlorothiazide, are already in the US market, and some others, such as Regadenoson, Lacosamide, Plerixafor, and Ibutilide are yet to be marketed. Sourena received a bachelor's degree in Chemistry from the Pahlavi University (Shiraz, IRAN), an MSc. and Ph.D. in Heterocyclic chemistry from East Anglia University (Norwich, UK). He conducted post-doctoral research in Chemistry and chemical biology at Yale University, Brookline Polytechnic University, Southern Illinois University, and Washington University in Saint Louis. In 2018, he founded heparinbuildingblocks.com to offer heparin building blocks to the scientific community around the globe at a cost price to help expand the research in heparan sulfate biology.
- Co-founder and President
Dr. Yingjie Ren
Dr. Ren is the co-founder and the President of PharmaRen. She earned her Ph.D. in Bioorganic Chemistry from Washington University in Saint Louis. Dr. Ren was a research scientist at Pharmacia and Pfizer before returning to school and completing her doctorate in Pharmacy (summa cum laude). She started her industrial experience by joining Pharmacia and the Pfizer team at its Saint Louis research campus, which was involved in new drug development. Her experience at Pharmacia and Pfizer led her to pursue pharmaceutical science more deeply by attending the Saint Louis College of Pharmacy. Since graduating from Pharmacy school, she has been working with patients, physicians, and drug developers. She is a practicing Pharmacist at Saint Louis University Hospital and is a board-certified oncology pharmacist (BCOP).