Dr. Suneel Gupta is currently Chief Development Officer at Protagonist Therapeutics since Jan 2019. Dr. Gupta also serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of several pharmaceutical companies. Prior to joining Protagonist, he was Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Impax Pharmaceuticals from 2008 to 2019. Prior to Impax, he was Senior Vice President (SVP) and Distinguished Research Fellow at Johnson & Johnson, where he led the early development from 2002-2008. Prior to J&J, he was at ALZA from 1989-2001, where he had increasing levels of responsibility until promoted to Vice President of Clinical Pharmacology & Product Discovery. Dr. Gupta received his PhD in Pharmacokinetics from the University of Manchester, UK in 1987 and did a postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr Gupta has more than 30 US patents, 100 paper and 200 + abstracts posters.
Polycythemia is a blood cancer characterized by increased red cell mass. Diagnosed quite often by high hematocrit (HCT) which can lead to thrombotic events such as TIA and Strokes. To reduce the incidence of thrombotic events, polycythemia vera (PV) patients are treated with periodic therapeutic phlebotomy (TP) alone or in combination with either hydroxyurea (HU), ruxolitinib (RUX) or interferon (IFN) to maintain hematocrit (HCT) levels below 45%. Patients are initially treated by Phlebotomy, which is associated with symptomatic iron deficiency, which worsens after repeated TPs. Ultimately, this may lead to suppression of hepcidin, the body’s main negative regulator of iron metabolism, resulting in increased iron absorption and iron recycling, fueling expanded erythropoiesis and a continued need for TP and exacerbating patients’ iron deficiency. Thus, we hypothesized that the therapeutic administration of a hepcidin mimetic agent would be useful in achieving HCT control in PV patients.
An incredible Journey of 50 years of the Department
Come, see and celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Department with us
16th -18th December 2022
Department of Pharmaceutical Science & Technology
Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Ranchi 835215 (JH), India