Never Said ‘Oh! I Am A Woman’
Kavita Iyer Rodrigues is often described as an inspirational icon in the bio-pharmaceutical industry. The CEO of Zumutor Biologics has expertise in core Biologics development and operations. Her technical experience in and knowledge of Biologics spans from enzymes to method development, along with process and product development. Zumutor Biologics aims to make significant strides in the bio-pharma industry globally. “My journey to continued success has not been a bed of roses. I believe I have worked hard with a team that’s exemplary. You make your own success and your own luck. Ask for what you deserve,” says Rodrigues.
Zumutor Biologics was born as Theramyt. The company had considerable success with both funding and operations in India, but decided to shift base to Boston in 2015. Rodrigues had end-to-end experience in a successful startup, but exited it via a strategic buy-out by a Bangalore-based listed pharmaceuticals company. She was owner, director and chief-of-operations in her first startup, Inbiopro, which was a global biotechnology enterprise. The startup built partnerships based on its core strength in Biosimilar development and process development services.
She then launched Theramyt Novobiologics, of which too she was owner/director and chief-of-operations. Theramyt Novobiologics was a niche Biosimilar to Biobetter development enterprise, focused on an innovation-driven strategy, aiming to combine drug designing with platform technologies to generate unique product lines in oncology, rheumatoid arthritis and cardiovascular diseases.
Equipped with an MS in clinical microbiology from Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, and an executive MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, Rodrigues began her professional career in some prestigious biotech houses, like Biocon and Millipore. Her corporate roles included key posts in R&D, quality control and process development.
Rodrigues has balanced her strides in her profession, with a healthy lifestyle, through a fitness regime. “I never approached any task saying, ‘Oh, I’m a woman.’ My gender doesn’t really factor into my thinking as I come into my work space. As Sheryl Sandberg says, ‘In the future there will be no female leaders, there will just be leaders’.”
