Pearl River, New York—Pearl River Laboratories, a contract biotech company located within The New York Center for Innovation in Rockland County, held its formal ribbon cutting on Saturday, November 16, 2019. The new company brings a combined 100-plus years of biotech/pharmaceutical experience to the Center for Innovation’s Pearl River campus.
Amar Prashad is the President and Chief Scientific Officer for PRL. He brings more than 25 years of expertise to this new company, both in medical chemistry in discovery and in process development he focused on during his tenure at Pfizer/, Lederle and Wyeth Laboratories, as well as in working with other biopharmaceutical companies and chemical research/manufacturing organizations.
Prashad served as Chair of the 500-member Bioconjugation Network (BCN) and pioneered several innovative technology initiatives, earning him the prestigious Pfizer Worldwide R&D Achievement Award in 2016.
Along with Prashad, PRL brings three highly-skilled and well-seasoned colleagues to the new biotech firm:
Lugene Maher is the Head of Business Operations at Pearl River Laboratories Inc. She brings a diverse background in the pharmaceutical, biologic and medical device industries, as well as academia. Her experience spans over 40 years in the life sciences. Focused on improving public health, she has held laboratory, scientific and management roles in two Fortune 500 companies. Lugene spent 32 years at Pfizer in Pearl River. For the past 11 years at Pfizer, she was a Sr. Director in Business Operations leading the site and Vaccine R&D operational, strategic and cultural initiatives. Lugene also has 10 years of academic experience as a college-level instructor teaching courses in the biological, environmental and public health fields of study.
Michael Pastel, Quality Assurance Officer, is a pharmaceutical scientist with a strong background in analytical chemistry and product development as an individual contributor, technical writer, manager and team leader. He has held increasing levels of responsibilities from analyst to Director of Analytical & Quality Sciences prior to coming on board.
Leo Letendre adds to the PRL team his extensive knowledge as Scientific Advisor, with a distinguished industrial career spanning nearly four decades. Letendre holds 17 key patents, including the commercial preparation of Celebrex®, Dynastate™ and other brand name pharmaceuticals. Letendre brings his extensive experience in developing regulatory filings to the table. He is currently Principal of Leo Letendre Consulting, LLC.
For more information on Pearl River Laboratories, contact Lugene Maher at (845) 300-1608.