arun kumar: Strides’ founder Arun Kumar back to helm the company

Strides Pharma on Tuesday said its founder-promoter Arun Kumar will be assuming executive role as executive chairperson and managing Director effective April 7, 2022, replacing incumbent managing director and CEO R. Ananthanarayanan has decided to step down effective from March 31.

The company said Ananthanarayanan has decided to step down to pursue his personal interests outside the organization.

“The Board of Directors of the Company (Board) accepted Ananth’s resignation and thanked him for his leadership, commitment, enthusiasm, and motivation during his tenure at Strides in a challenging global operating environment,” Strides said in a statement.

“We thank Ananth for his leadership during his tenure at Strides in a tough global operating environment. Ananth has been closely working with the Board to recalibrate the growth and profitability of the Company and our priority is to continue building on those strategic and operational initiatives,” said Arun Kumar.

“The company remains committed to enabling a fast turnaround of its business performance and delivering sustainable outcomes,” Arun Kumar added.

Since January 2020, Ananthanarayanan has been spearheading Strides. The company has been struggling with pricing pressure, supply chain disruption, high raw material prices and lack of meaningful approvals in the US, hurting its business.

Ananthanarayanan has been fire-fighting for a turnaround of the company’s performance. The company in August 2021, announced acquisition of Endo’s manufacturing facility in the US along with a basket of ANDAs for $24.9 million to help with new launches.

The US business has been critical to Strides that contributes about 36% of revenues. Stride’s US business at its peak was hitting $58 million on a quarterly basis, but now those revenues have fallen below $40 million.