Sugu Patro
About Sugu Patro
Sugu Patro serves as the Senior Vice President of Global Process Development at Kite Pharma, bringing extensive experience from previous roles at Amgen and Celgene. His expertise includes biopharmaceutical operations strategy, product commercialization, and formulation strategies aimed at enhancing patient experience.
Work at Kite Pharma
Sugu Patro currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Global Process Development at Kite Pharma. He has held this position since 2020, contributing to the organization's focus on advancing cell therapy solutions. His role involves overseeing the development and optimization of processes that support the lifecycle management of cell therapies, ensuring that they meet regulatory standards and patient needs.
Previous Experience at Amgen
Sugu Patro has extensive experience at Amgen, where he held various leadership roles over a span of several years. His positions included Executive Director of Therapeutic Area Head for Nephrology & General Medicine and Cardiovascular, Metabolic & Neuroscience. He also served as Executive Director of Drug Product Technologies and Operations. His tenure at Amgen helped shape his expertise in drug product development and commercialization strategies.
Education and Expertise
Sugu Patro earned his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Biochemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he studied from 1992 to 1995. He also obtained a Master’s Degree in the same field from the same institution between 1990 and 1992. His educational background provides a strong foundation for his expertise in formulation strategies, particularly in innovative biologics and biosimilars.
Leadership in Biopharmaceutical Development
Sugu Patro has played a significant role in establishing global technical and business organizational units focused on operations strategy development within the biopharmaceutical industry. He is experienced in governance, prioritization, decision-making, and asset evaluation, which are critical for successful product commercialization. His leadership has been instrumental in the submission of two CAR-T Biologics License Applications (BLAs) for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma and Multiple Myeloma.
Career at Celgene
Before joining Kite Pharma, Sugu Patro worked at Celgene as Vice President of CMC Strategy & Project and Portfolio Management for Cell Therapy Development & Ops from 2018 to 2019. His role involved overseeing the development and management of cell therapy projects, aligning them with strategic business objectives and regulatory requirements.