?There is no family rift at all and it is purely in his personal capacity,?? say informed sources at Dr Reddy?s Laboratories. However, the picture is that Dr K Anji Reddy, the founder chairman of Dr Reddy?s who led the company to become the first to embark upon drug discovery research in the country, seems to have added a new cap in his entrepreneurial career in the pharma segment.
A collaborative research project on Alzheimer?s is being initiated along with one of his close friend, Uday Saxena in the US who has floated a company called Kareus Therapeutics. Uday Saxena worked with Dr Reddy?s Laboratories as chief scientific officer for about nine years and quit the organisation in November 2007. Though Reddy and Saxena are still thick friends, analysts point out that ultimately it is business in research too. There were no comments from the company spokesperson either.
?The new venture is more to do with extrapreneurialship opportunities and we encourage our scientists who have quit the organisation to start new ventures as well,?? Anji Reddy told FE. It seems the company sources some raw materials from those 15-odd chemists, who had quit the organisation earlier, thereby encouraging their businesses.
Investing in his personal capacity is not new either. Having a passion for science, Anji Reddy, in his personal capacity, has invested in over dozen companies which include the Institute of Life Sciences, Aurigene Discovery, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, Dr Reddy?s Biosciences, etc. ?It is more a win-win situation for both the companies and since Dr Reddy?s Laboratories does not have research project on Alzheimer?s, and this new one may kick off new findings for this disease,?? sources said.