Dr.mahesh Kantilal Bhalgat

Biography

A graduate in Pharmacy from University of Mumbai, Dr. Mahesh Bhalgat holds a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Utah. In a career spanning over 25 years in the field of biotechnology and biologics, Dr. Bhalgat has contributed to the commercialization of diagnostic kits, biopharmaceuticals and WHO pre-qualification of vaccines. Dr. Bhalgat has been responsible for major milestones in diverse areas of biotechnology by working in biotherapeutics, vaccines, agri-biotech, and research reagents. Dr. Bhalgat joined Shantha in July 2013 as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) where he was responsible for operations and long term strategy at Shantha in line with overall Sanofi vision. In 2015, he was appointed as the Executive Director and nominated to be on the board for Shantha Biotechnics. Dr. Bhalgat currently heads manufacturing, supply chain, quality and Engineering projects for the two facilities located in Hyderabad, India. In the last 2 years of Dr. Bhalgat’s tenure, Shantha has been granted the with WHO prequalification of Shan5 and was also awarded a tender to supply global health organizations with a total of 37 million doses of Shan5. Shantha also laid the foundation stone for a new production facility in Hyderabad for manufacturing Insuman®, a leading Human Insulin product. Shantha has recently also reached a new milestone of 2 MDS stockpile of its cholera vaccine, Shanchol. These milestones have contributed to a 3-fold revenue growth for Shantha in 2015. Dr. Bhalgat started his career in USA and worked there for 20 years. During this period, his breadth of experience grew through working in many different functions within the biotechnology industry. He has hands on experience of working in the areas of Analytical and Process Development, Operations, Regulatory Sciences and Quality. During his tenure in US, Dr. Bhalgat worked in both small and large companies such as Amgen, Monsanto, Celera Genomics and Molecular Probes (now Thermo Fisher). After returning to India in 2009, he started working in Biological E as Vice President responsible for Analytical Development and Quality Control groups. Dr. Bhalgat is currently based out of Hyderabad and his wife Priti, a paraprofessional involved in the growth of special needs children is taking a career break while being fully engaged in the shaping the lives of their two wonderful daughters, one who just started college and the other in high school.

Research Interest

agri-biotech